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RECOMMENDATIONS 

OF THE 

GREAT TEACHER. 

From Rev. Dr. Hawes of Hartford, Ct. 

Gen t.— -I have read with much interest the volume 
entitled the Great Teacher, or Characteristics of our 
Lord's Ministry, which you put into my hands a few days 
since. — Dr. Humphrey has done a good service by bring- 
ing the work before American Christians. It is a book of 
rare excellence, breathing an admirable spirit, abounding 
in rich thoughts, expressed in an easy flowing style, and 
well adapted to do good in these angry times, by calling 
the disciples of the Savior away from contentious specula- 
tions to learn of the 'Great Teacher ' himself. 

No Christian it seems to me, and especially no Minis- 
ter, can rise from the reading of this volume without being 
made better, both in mind and heart. — Its extensive circu- 
lation could not fail to do great good. 

Affectionately yours, 

J. HAWES. 



From the Boston Recorder. 

THE GREAT TEACHER. 

This is a title of a work by the Rev. John Harris, pas- 
tor of an independent church, in Epsom, England ; re- 
published with an introductory essay, by Dr. Humphrey, 
President of Amherst College. I have read but a part of it 
yet; but one needsonly to taste of amelon to know whether 
it is a fine one ; if a man take wine, he may be sure of its 
flavor, without drinking off a whole cask ; you need not 
wait till t you have chemically examined every particle of 
the whole mass of ore in a new locality, before you pro- 
nounce that it belongs to amine of precious ftietal. So I 
do not hesitate to judge this new work, on the character- 






2 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

istics of our Lord's Ministry, to be a most valuable con- 
tribution to the rich stores furnished in the present age to 
the religious reader ; and to respond very sincerely to the 
following remark of Dr. Humphrey, in his excellent intro- 
duction, ' That disciple must have thought a great deal 
more, or a great deal less, than nine tenths of his Chris- 
tian brethren, of the striking peculiarities of our Lord's 
preaching, who can read these highly original and finished 
Essays, without having his mind enlightend, his heart 
warmed, and his admiration of the Great Teacher in- 
creased.' — A lover of good books. 

Nothing seems to us to be more important, at the present 
time, than the object of this volume, to turn the minds of 
all Christians away from noise, controversy, and excite- 
ment, to the meek and holy Jesus. Angels might look 
into his character as well as into his redemption. 
No study can exhaust its wonders; no investigation can 
search to the depth of its mysteries ; no language can ad- 
equately describe it. — Editor. 



From the Hampshire Gazette — by Rev. John Todd. 

Such is the title of a book [The Great Teacher] just is- 
sued from the press of the Adams' of Amherst. Having 
heard of the stir which it made in England, we waited 
with impatience for its appearance from our press. And 
now that it is published, we proceed to say that is a very 
neatly printed volume of 437 pages, 12mo. It consists of 
five Essays: 1, The Authority of our Lord's Teaching ; 
2, the Originality of our Lord's teaching, under seven 
heads; 3, the, Spirituality of our Lord's teaching; 4, 
on the Tenderness and Benevolence of our Lord's teaching ; 
5, the Practicalness of our Lord's Teaching. The intro- 
ductory Essay by Dr. Humphrey, is characteristic of him- 
self, neat, terse, short, rich, and original. 

The book itself must have cost much meditation, much 
communion on the bosom of Jesus, and much prayer. Its 
style is like the country which gave it birth, beautiful, vari- 
ed, finished, and every where delightful. An American 
writer on the same subject, would have more resembled his 
own country, rising now and then on lofty elevations, and 
then again descending to the valley. But the English 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 3 

writers carry you on, like their own Mc'Adamized roads, 
safely, rapidly, delighted and unfatigued. But the style of 
this work is its smallest excellence. It will be read. It 
ought to be read. It will find its way to many parlors, 
and add to the comforts of many a happy fire-side. The 
reader will rise from each chapter, not able perhaps, to 
carry with him many striking remarks, or apparent para- 
doxes ; but he will have a sweet impression made upon his 
soul like that which soft and touching music makes when 
every thing about it is appropriate. The writer pours 
forth a clear and beautiful light, like that of the evening 
light-house, when it sheds its rays upon the sleeping waters 
and covers them with a surface of gold. We can have 
no sympathy with a heart which yields not to impressions 
delicate and holy, which the perusal of this work will 
naturally make. Let your readers judge for themselves. 



From the Christian Secretary, Hartford, Ct. 

The work entitled as above, we say from the fullness of 
our heart is richly worth, and will well repay an attentive 
and serious reading. We rejoice to see it re-printed in 
America. If any Christian would counteract the influence 
of ivorldly reading upon his mind, let him throw by the 
trash that bewilders, and substitute such reading as this 
book supplies. T.o say all we wish to, and in the fewest 
words, we give an extract from the Introduction of Presi- 
dent Humphrey. /, 

' The author of the present work, is the pastor of an in- 
dependent church in Epsom, Eng. ; and ' is well reported 
of by his brethren.' It being his object in this volume, 
to bring us directly to Christ, for divine instruction, he en- 
titles it, The Great Teacher. The book contains five Es- 
says, of considerable length, and on the following impor- 
tant topics. 1. The Authority of our Lord's teaching. 
2. The Originality of our Lord's teaching, under seven 
distinct heads. 3. The Spirituality of our Lord's teach- 
ing. 4. On the Tenderness and Benevolence of our Lord's 
teaching. 5- The Practicalness of our Lord's teaehing. 
In reading these Essays, I have been exceedingly interested 
as I am sure every person must be, who is pleased to find 
weighty and well digested thoughts, imbued with deep 



i 



4 RECOMMENDATIONS. 

christian feeling, and clothed in perspicuous and polished 
language. Mr. Harris is a writer of much more than or- 
dinary intellectual powers and cultivation. He w r rites 
like one who has long been accustomed to * sit at the feet 
of Jesus,' and has eminently profited under his teaching. 
Instead of asking what other men have thought of The 
Great Teacher, and borrowing their opinions, to help 
make out a respectable volume, he has evidently heard 
for himself; and he gives us his own impresions vividly 
and forcibly, just as he received them. Such a book as 
this, is not often written before the meridian of life, and 
never either before or after, without deep and protracted 
meditation. 

I do not wonder at the avidity which is hastening its 
wide circulation in England ; nor at the high terms, in 
which it is commended, by so many of the best judges of 
its merits in that country. I am sure, that it deserves an 
equally rapid and wide circulation here.' 



From the Connecticut Observer. 

We learn, from the Introductory Essay, that the Author 
of this work is ' the pastor of an independent church, in 
Epsom, England; and is well reported of by the breth- 
ren.' The work contains five essays on ' The Authority 
— The Originality — The Spirituality — The Tenderness 
and Benevolence — and The Practicalness, of our Lord's 
Teaching.' President Humphrey has laid the American 
churches under obligations, by bringing this work before 
their notice, and urging it on their attention, in his inter- 
esting Introductory Essay. He states that the work is 
having a rapid and extensive circulation in England, as it 
will have no doubt in this country, as soon as its merits 
are known. We have not been more deeply interested, for 
a long time, in any volume, than in this. It displays great 
originality and richness of thought, and power of illustra- 
tion and expression. Whoever reads the Preface, will 
need no urging to read the whole work. It has reminded 
us, in its turn of thought, and in the vividness of its im- 
agery, of the poetry of Pollok. 



THE 



GREAT TEACHER: 



CHARACTERISTICS 

OF OUR 

LORD'S MINISTRY 

BY THI 



REV. JOHN HARRIS. 

el 



"WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

BY HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D. 

PRESIDENT OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 



SECOND EDITION. 



AMHERST: 

J. S. AND C. ADAMS, 

1836. 






3>k 



u •*» 













=1 



CONTENTS. 



> 



Introduction to the American Edition. ... ix 

Preface xix 

ESSAY I. 
THE AUTHORITY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 

' He spake as one having authority. • 

A Divine Teacher needed— Desired— Might have been 
expected— Was predicted— His advent in the person of 
Christ— His Jowly condition— Herald— Installation to 
office— Subject proposed— A very small portion of his 
discourses recorded-Scope of his teaching-First char- 
acteristic, authority. I. Authority of goodness— Invi- 
tations— Beatitudes. II. Authority of greatness- 
Claims universal audience— Superiority to Jonah, Sol- 
omon, and all the great names of the Jewish Church- 
Supremacy— Central object of the judgment day- 
Impresses his name on every thing— Speaks of all 
things awful and sublime, calmly, like one familiar 
with them— Teaching, declarative and dogmatic. 
m. Authority of solemnity— His peculiar formula— 
His denunciations of woe. IV. Legislative authority 
—Revises the Mosaic code— Asserts his superiority to 
law-Repeals existing economy-Controls laws of na- 
ture himself, and confers the power on others—' I say 
unto you, '—His new commandment— Not only enacts 
laws, but ensures obedience— Forgives sin— Reposed 
on his own personal authority — Conclusion — His 
teaching exempt from all supposa v ble circumstances 
unfavorable to authoritative teaching— Taught with 
the perfect conviction of the truth of his doctrine— 
His example enforced it— Cordial sympathy with it- 
Knew the ultimate principles on which his doctrines 
rested— And the supreme value of the truth he taught 
—And the purity of his own motives— And the ulti- 
mate triumph of his doctrine— All this must have 
clothed his teaching, especially when contrasted with 
the prevailing mode of Jewish instruction, with com- 
manding power— His disciples should be distinguished 
by reverence and docility— These dispositions to be 
sought and found at the throne of grace. . . 49—87 



IV CONTENTS. 

ESSAY II. 
THE ORIGINALITY OP OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 

Section I. — Of God the Father. 

' Never man spake like this man.' 

' No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the 
Son will reveal him,' 

Originality not valuable for its own sake — His praise 
consists, partly, in not being more original — Deigned 
to adopt familiar illustrations and sayings in order to 
engage attention and affection — His highest claim to 
originality consists in new disclosures of truth — To 
have merely interpreted the book of nature, unavail- 
ing — Is itself brought under the curse — The great 
truth it attests is the existence of its Maker. I. Christ 
taught his character — Prevailing ignorance on the sub- 
ject — Even in Judea — Among the heathens, the Epi- 
curean system general. II. Christ taught the univer- 
sal providence and paternal character of God. III. 
His love to man, exemplified in the mission of Christ. 
IV. This, only the means of mercy. V. The end — 
Free gift of eternal life. VI. Offered to all. VII. 
Character of Christ is the character of the Father. 
VIII. Taught us to call him our Father — Summary of 
our Lord's teaching; on this subject — Life eternal to 
know God through Christ 88—121 

Section II. — Concerning Himself. 

' No man knoweth the Son but the Father.' 

His person unique — Not understood by his disciples till 
after his ascension. I. The complexity of his person. 
II. Object of his advent — Evinced the divine existence 
— Embodied the Divine spirituality — But, chiefly, rep- 
resented the Divine character. III. Mode of manifes- 
tation — By sensible representation — Affirming that all 
he did was only in fulfillment of the Father's commis- 
sion — Ascending the (,ross — Saving the outcast — Iden- 
tifying his interest with ours — Sending salvation to 
Jerusalem— Giving his own Spirit to his disciples — 
Interceding — Personally— Allowing us to plead his 
name — Engaging himself to answer prayer — Object of 
the whole to demonstrate that l God is love ;' and to 
make us the heirs of that love. .... 122 — 173 



CONTENTS. V 

Section III. — Of the Holy Spirit. 

' This spake he of the Spirit.' 

Difficult to discriminate between originality and mere 
novelty — New theological opinions sprung up between 
the times of Malachi and of Christ — Though much is 
taught of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, the 
doctrine of his agency is one of the most original that 
came from the iips of Christ. I. Mission of the Spirit 
dependent on his own return to heaven — The reasons 
why. II. Object of the Spirit's advent — To convince 
of sin. III. Means of his operation, IV. Necessity 
of regeneration. V. Effects of it. VI. Glorifies 
Christ. VII. To enhance our views and desires of 
the Spirit, our Lord taught that to reject him is unpar- 
donable — That his presence would compensate for his 
own departure — Be a remedy for all the miseries of 
earth— God's all-comprehending gift — Free for all. 173 — 211 



Section IV. — Of the Doctrine of the Trinity; and <rf 
a Spiritual Church* 



The doctrinp of the Trinity imperfectly known under the 
Jewish economy — Taught by our Lord practically — 
In the formula of christian baptism, I. The existence 
of a spiritual church. II. Had been pre-figured — 
The world contains nothing like it. III. Its simplicity, 
IV. Its purpose. V. Its spirituality — Preached repent- 
ance as a requisite for membership-- Armed his church 
with power to expel offenders — Denounced the Phari- 
sees for ' teaching as doctrine the commandments of 
men.' — The church his earthly kingdom. . . 211—226 



Section V. — On Satanic Agency. 



' The devil and his angels. 



Satan the prince of devils — Numbers of his agents—- His 
apostacy, and ruin of man — His power on earth, a 
kingdom — Organized — Long almost undisputed — 
Christ came to dispute his authority — Took an affect- 
ing view of human vassalage — Satan, aware of his 
advent — Undertook to conduct his temptation — Made 
his life an incessant conflict — Compassed his death — 



VI CONTENTS. 

Defeated — The defeat of Satan quite reconcileable 
with his present prevalence— Called a spirit, to excite 
our vigilance — An unclean spirit, to awaken our antip- 
athy — His influence over the heart, great — But only- 
exercised with our consent — The period of his reign 
limited 226—244 




%rr 



Section VI. — Of the Immortality of the Soul ; 
Resurrection of the Body, 



'I am the resurrection and the life.' 

The hope of immortality reasonable — The great instinct 
of humanity — Revelation necessary to authenticate it 
— It did so, partially, under the last economy — Full 
revelation and proof of the doctrine reserved for 
Christ. I. Taught the doctrine of an intermediate ex- 
istence. II. Proved a resurrection. III. He himself 
will raise the dead. IV. Resurrection, universal. V. 
Bodies raised, identical with those intered. VI. Means 
of a resurrection to eternal life, provided by Christ — 
He possesses the power — By dying in our stead, has 
acquired the right — Begins, even here, to make his 
power and right available, by quickening dead souls — 
The final extinction of death so certain, that he speaks 
of it as already effected 244 — 270 



Section VII. — Of the Final Judgment. 



' The Son of man shall come in his glory ; and before him shall be gath- 
ered all nations.' 

The judgment anticipated by the human mind. I. Its 
publicity. II. Christ himself the judge. III. Its sol- 
emn pomp. IV. Its rectitude — Hence, it will be uni- 
versal — Take cognizance of every act — A judgment 
of comparison and proportion — And conducted accord- 
ing to the known laws of the divine government. V. 
Its division of all intelligent beings into good and bad 
— This distribution commenced upon earth — Angels 
will then be employed to complete it. VI. Its final 
awards — These awards everlasting — The whole doc- 
trine exibits the practical value of the gospel, and the 
infinite importance of Christ 271 — 296 



CONTENTS. Til 

ESSAY III. 



SPIRITUALITY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 

' The words that I speak unto you are spirit and life. ' 

The spirituality of the Divine Nature. II. Of the mor- 
al law. III. Of the worship of God — As opposed to 
that which is local — Ceremonial — Prescribed by hu- 
man authority — Formal and insincere. IV. Of his 
kingdom — Denounced the temporal hopes of the Jews 
— Called for spiritual subjects — Born from above — Dis- 
claimed for his kingdom all resemblance to earthly 
governments — Conclusion — The whole reminds us of 
our proneness to repose in a form of piety to the ne- 
glect of evangelical holiness — This has originated su- 
perstition — Neutralized the Jewish economy — And ear- 
ly began to vitiate Christianity itself— Importance of 
exemplifying the spiritual nature of our vocation. . 297 — 334 



ESSAY IV. 



ON THE TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE OF OUR 
LORD'S TEACHING. 

' Learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto 

your souls.' 

'And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which 
proceeded out of his mouth.' 

The recollection of our Lord's character necessary, to 
feel the pathos of his teaching. I. His exellencies — 
Loveliness of his youth — His gracious commission — 
Purity — Superiority to the age in which he lived — In- 
dependent of all surrounding influences — Universality ^ 
of his plans — dualities contrasted, but harmonized by- 
benevolence — Overflowing benignity. II. His benevo- 
lence as a Teacher — Objection answered — Employed 
parables — Chose to be poor — Taught gratuitously- 
Simplified instruction — Teaching consolatory — Pla- 
ces in whichhe preached, evinced condescension — Al- 
ways accessible — Impressed unwelcome truths by em- 
ploying affecting signs; the little child; washing the 
disciples' feet; the last supper. III. Instances of the 
tenderness and benevolence of his teaching — Predic- 
itedthe owndeath — Blessed the poor in spirit — Soothed 
the anxious — Offered the weary rest — Parable of the 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

prodigal — Identifies himself with all piety — Apostro- 
phizes, and weeps over Jerusalem — His valedictory 
discourse— His purposes of grace — Universality of his 
offers — Expressions of his benevolence went on in- 
creasing to the last — Conclusion ; character of Christ 
regarded as an evidence for Christianity — An example 
— And an encouragement — His expostulation with the 
unbeliever 335—394 



ESSAY V. 



THE PRACTICALNESS OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 



' Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven isperfect. 




Our Lord evinced his wisdom, as a practical teacher, 
by limiting his revelations to the measure of our real 
wants — By dispensing with a cumbrous ritual. IT. His 
favorite topics, humility and benevolence. III. Pre- 
ferred comprehensive rules to a detailed enumeration 
of duties. IV. His morality extends to the thoughts. 
V. To motives — Love of God. VI. Prescribes for its 
end, the glory of God. VII. For its standard, the char- 
acter of God. VIII. Injunctions, simple and authori- 
tative — Sanctions. IX. Not only commands, but en* 
ables. X. Objections of the incompleteness of the Sa- 
vior's code, answered — Happy effects of his gospel. 
XI. Impiety of those who regard it as a dispensation 
from holiness. XII. Supreme importance which he 
ascribed to holiness. — Aimed to make earth resemble 
heaven 395 — 444 



INTRODUCTION 
To the American Edition. 



The seal which God put upon man, when he made 
him, was nothing less than his own bright image. What 
a mysterious creation ! The stamp of the Divinity upon 
a child of the dust! What noble intellectual and moral 
powers ! What a destiny ! And can this being, so ' fear- 
fully and wonderfully made,' know himself and find out 
the character of his fellows? Is he capable of admiring 
what is great in them, and imitating what is good ? 

These questions do not need a formal answer — for the 
natural, as well as ' the proper study of mankind, is man.' 
We are instinctively prompted to examine other copies of 
this remarkable volume, not only to ascertain how far they 
agree with our own, but to note down whatever strikes us 
as peculiar in any of them. Especially are all eyes at- 
tracted by intellectual and moral greatness, wherever it 
appears. 

Such men as Aristotle, Bacon, Pascal, Edwards, Milton, 
. Howard, Washington, and Napoleon, always have had a 
multitude of admirers, and they always will have. It is 
hardly necessary to add, that the constituent elements of 
greatness in such extraordinary men, are capable of being 
exhibited in a variety of interesting lights. They are like 
those large bodies, which cannot be seen, on all sides, from 
any one station : or those wide and deep waters, which 



X INTRODUCTION. 

cannot be effectually sounded, by heaving- the lead once, 
or twice, in the same place. The genius — the inspiration, 
I was about to say, of a great Poet, or Philosopher, or 
Reformer, requires much and deep reflection, to compre- 
hend it. And in order to do justice to the master spirits 
of the world, the soul must be stirred by kindred impulses. 
Moreover, when the sublime and original conceptions of a 
Milton, or the indomitable daring of a Luther, or John 
Knox, is to be scanned, a single biography, or critique, 
however ably drawn up, does not satisfy us. It just awa- 
kens our admiration and curiosity. We inquire more ea- 
gerly than ever, wherein their ' great strength lay.' We 
dwell upon every incident of their lives, with new interest. 
We read their works again and again, with increased sat- 
isfaction, and eagerly catch every ray of light which is 
cast upon their characters and writings by their most gifted 
admirers. 

But no mere human character, or work is perfect. The 
profoundest depths of man's intellect can befathomed. In 
the loftiest nights of his imagination he can be followed. 
None of his richest mines are inexhaustible. The time 
must come, when all will have been said, that can be said, 
to exalt the character of any individual of our race, how- 
ever great his talents, or illustrious his virtues. And this 
would have been the case had sin never entered the world. 
Had the men whom we most admire, been perfectly holy, 
it would have been a limited perfection after all — not finite 
merely, but the perfection of, probably, the lowest order of 
God's intelligent creation. So that in due time, we might 
have learned every thing that could be learned about them ; 
might have exhausted our admiration upon every thing 
that was worthy to be admired. 

In like manner, were an angel to come down from heav- 
en, and dwell among us, and unfold to us those sublime 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

mysteries of science and religion, which are too deep for 
human discovery ; and were he at the same time, to exhib- 
it before our eyes, during a long course of years, a brilliant 
example of angelic benevolence, what an atmosphere of 
light and love would it throw around him. How eagerly 
should we listen to his instructions — with what absorbing 
interest should we study his character ; and with what 
emotions of wonder and gratitude should we follow him, 
as ' he went about doing good ! ' Such a heavenly sojourn- 
er, might in due time withdraw from the w 7 orld, to resume 
his golden harp before the throne ; and were he to leave 
behind him a single volume for our perusal, illustrative - of 
his character, and revealing more fully the high purpose 
of his mission, with what intense interest would all his 
disciples sit down to the study of that volume ; how many 
commentaries would be written upon it ; and how much 
more and deeper wisdom might it be expected to embody, 
than any book of man's composing. It would not be 
strange, if new views of truth, and of the exalted intellect 
and benevolence of the w r riter- should be elicited a hundred 
years after his departure. But still, it would be the work 
of a finite mind — of one of the lowest, perhaps, on the 
scale of angelic gradation. The time might come, and 
come soon, compared with the duration of this world, when 
there would be nothing more for man to learn, from such 
a volume. 

Suppose, again, that Gabriel, or if there be one high- 
er than he, on the mighty scale — suppose that the first 
archangel were to be sent down to us, to take our nature 
into mysterious union with his own ; to become a man as 
well as an angel ; suppose he were to initiate us still more 
deeply into the mysteries of science and the knowledge of 
God ; to set us a perfect example of holy obedience ; to 
sympathise with us in all our afflictions ; and even to suf- 



Xll INTRODUCTION. 

fer for our crimes ; what a multitude of disciples and ac 
mirers would gather round him and hang 1 upon his lips, 
and tender him their most grateful acknowledgements. 
And were he, in taking leave of us, that he might go up 
and stand ' in the presence of God,' to put into our hands 
a roll for us all to copy, containing a history of his own 
life and sufferings, and rich in the sublimest revelations 
which it would be in the power of an archangel to make, 
how eagerly should we break the seal, and how uneasy 
would every one be till he had obtained his copy. How 
should we pore over such a document day and night; and 
how many ' heavenly things,' would in all probability be 
left for other critics and commentators to open up to view, 
after successive generations of admirers had passed away. 
In so remarkable a case as this, we should not think it 
over-weening presumption in any well-instructed disciple 
to take the roll and search within the great seal for others, 
which might possibly have been over-looked by all his 
predecessors. It might require thousands of years, of 
deep study, to bring out all the hidden wisdom of this sin- 
gle angelic roll. And yet, it could not be inexhaustible; 
for it would be the wisdom, not of an infinite, but of a 
finite mind. Though time itself should be too short to 
open all the seals, there will surely be scope enough in 
eternity. The period may arrive in the everlasting ages 
of his future being, when man, child of the dust as he is, 
will excel the highest seraph in his present knowledge of 
God, and the plan of his government, and the glories of 
his empire, as much as that seraph now excels the hum- 
blest saint on earth. 

But we have dwelt too long, perhaps, upon these suppo- 
sitions. There are facts connected with the history of this 
world, which must strike the mind at once, as infinitely 
surpassing all that it would have ever entered into the 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

heart of man to suppose, or conceive.' Nearly two thou- 
sand years ago, a voice of strange and mysterious import 
was heard in heaven ; and the more mysterious, because 
it issued from the throne itself. ' Sacrifice and offering 
thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Lo 
I am come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
I delight to do thy will, O my God : yea, thy law is within 
my breast.' And who is it, that thus announces his pur- 
pose to visit a guilty world, and become incarnate? We 
first ask the Prophet Isaiah, and he answers, ' Unto us a 
child is born, unto us a son is given : and the government 
shall be upon his shouldes : his name shall be called 
"Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace.' We next inquire of John, 
the beloved disciple, and he replies, ' In the beginning was 
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God. — All things were made by him, and without him was 
not any thing made that was made. In him was Life, and 
the Life was the Light of men.' • And the Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, 
the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth.' Then we enquire of 'the man Christ Jesus' 
himself, ' who art thou ? ' — and this is his remarkable an- 
swer. ' Before Abraham was, I am.' ' I and my Father 
are one.' ' For as the Father raiseth up the dead and 
quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he 
will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath commit- 
ted all judgment unto the Son : that all men should honor 
the Son, even as they honor the Father.' We next inter- 
rogate the Apostle Paul — s Who is this that cometh from 
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah 1 This that is 
glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his 
strength 1 ?' And he breaks out in adoring transport, 
' Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen 
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the 
world, received up into glory. ' Let this mind be in you 
which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made him- 
self of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of man ; and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ; that at 
the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in 
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is 
the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' ' In whom we 
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of 
sins ; who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born 
of every creature. For by him were all things created 
that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, wheth- 
er they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or pow- 
ers : all things were created by him, and for him. And 
he is before ail things, and by him all things consist.' 

Finally ; we turn to the beloved disciple once more, and 
ask him what he saw and heard in the visions of Patmos, 
and he answers, ' I beheld, and heard the voice of many 
angels round about the throne, and the living ones and the 
elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand times 
ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a 
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heav- 
en, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are 
in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Bless- 
ing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sit- 
teth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 
And the four living ones said, Amen. And the four and 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth 
for ever and ever.' 

And was the earth ever honored and blest with this di- 
vine and glorious presence? If what we read in the 
scriptures, of the incarnation, the miracles, the preaching", 
the death, the resurrection of the Son of God be true, it is 
the mystery of all mysteries. I do not expect ever to 
comprehend it. The more I reflect upon it, the more 
amazing does it appear. What infinite opposites meet in 
the person of Jesus Christ. • The mighty God,' and yet a 
helpless child ! The Creator of all worlds, and yet with- 
out a place ' to lay his head ! ' ■ God, manifest in the 
flesh ! ' A man, and yet infinitely higher than the angels ! 
Equal with the Father, in dignity, and glory, and blessed- 
ness ; and yet at the same moment ' a man of sorrows and. 
acquainted with grief! ' A conqueror of the pow r ers of 
darkness, in the very hour that they prevailed against 
him ! How can I believe it ? Was the divine nature in 
the person of Christ, transformed into the human nature of 
the son of Mary % And was the human nature of the 
son of Mary changed into the divine nature ? No — but 
the two were mysteriously united, so as to become one 
person. ' The man Christ Jesus,' was not * the Lord from 
heaven ; ' but ' in him dwelt all the fullness of the God- 
head bodily.' The Deity did not suffer and sink under 
the agonies of Calvary, and yet in the person of Jesus, 
God there purchased the church with his own blood. A 
great mystery, but no absurdity. Above reason, but not 
contrary to it. There was the bloody cross. There were 
the thorns, the nails, and the spear. There the plan of 
redemption was more fully unfolded, than ever before, to 
the admiring gaze of angels. There it was, that the meek 
and holy sufferer ' bore our sins and carried our sorrows; 5 



XVI INTRODUCTION. 

and it was there, that • mercy and truth met together, 
righteousness and peace embraced each other.' 

Here then, christian reader, is a theme worthy of an 
angei's pen — yea, of more than an angel's intellect. Here 
is the grand radiant point, towards which all the affinities 
converge : — infinite wisdom — infinite love — infinite jus- 
tice — infinite mercy ! Depths, heights, length, breadth — 
all passing knowledge! Innumerable pens have been 
employed upon the life, character, preaching and mediato- 
rial work of Christ. Hundreds of commentaries, more 
or less critical and extended, have been written upon the 
four gospels. But have ' the seven seals ' all been opened 1 
Is there nothing left, to reward the toil of those who may- 
hereafter devote their best powers to the study and elucida- 
tion of these sacred books % ' Who by searching can find 
out God, or the Almighty unto perfection V The charac- 
ter of Christ is an infinitely perfect character. The gos- 
pels, in which he is exhibited, as the divine object of our 
faith and love, and adoration ; and which contain the record 
of his miracles, doctrines, sufferings, and final triumph, were 
'given by inspiration of God, 5 and 'the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge' which they contain, are literally in- 
exhaustible. After all the ' living water ' that has been 
drawn from these ' wells of salvation.' there is no diminu- 
tion of the supply. Were a thousand of the most gifted 
and holy men now on earth, to ' set the Lord Jesus always 
before them,' and spend their whole lives in studying his 
adorable character, they would be so far from exhausting 
the theme, that other thousands more gifted and more holy 
might find ample scope for the employment of their pow- 
ers, down to the end of time. However great and good 
the last writer, upon the life, character and teaching of 
Christ may be, and with all the helps which he will be 
able to command, he must leave the divine portraiture still 



INTRODUCTION. XVII 

unfinished. Nor can it be doubted, that the mysteries of 
redemption, including the divine and mediatorial character, 
the incarnation and atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, 
will employ the minds, the hearts, and the tongues of the Re- 
deemed, through everlasting ages ; and that new develope- 
ments of the perfections and ' glory of God, in the face of 
Jesus Christ, will be made forever and ever.' 

In this view of the subject, (and Lam sure it must be 
the right view,) however well any man, or number of men 
may have written upon the preaching, miracles, or offices 
of Christ, it affords no objection, or discouragement to 
others, who may wish to occupy the same ground. No 
one, indeed, should be encouraged to put forth the results 
of his labors, unless he has something to say, which is 
worthy of being presented to the christian public — for 
time and money are too precious, to be thrown away upon 
mere common place ink and paper. But when a man of 
decided talents and piety, lays out his strength upon any 
one of the great topics just alluded to, and is happy in his 
method of treating it, he deserves our thanks, for putting 
into our hands this new help to christian edification. 

The author of the present work, is the pastor of an in- 
dependent church, in Epsom, Eng. ; and is ' well reported 
of by the brethren.' It being his object in this volume, to 
bring us directly to Christ, for divine instruction, he enti- 
tles it, The Great Teacher. The book contains'five 
Essays, of considerable length, and on the following im- 
portant topics. I. The authority of our Lord's teaching. 
II. The originality of our Lord's Teaching, under seven 
distinct heads. III. The spirituality of our Lord's teach- 
ing. IV. On the tenderness and henevolence of our Lord' s 
teaching. V. The practicalness of our Lord's teaching. 
In reading these highly original and finished Essays, I 

B 



XV1J1 INTRODUCTION. 



have been exceedingly delighted, as I am sure every per- 
son must be, who is capable of appreciating weighty and 
well digested thoughts, imbued with deep christian feel- 
ing, and clothed in neat and polished language. Mr, Har- 
ris is such a writer, as we do not ordinarily meet with 
any where. It would be easy to quote passages almost at 
random, from his book of extraordinary condensation and 
beauty. He writes like a disciple, who has long been 
accustomed to 'sit at the feet of Jesus,' and with eminent 
advantage. Instead of asking what other men have thought 
of The Great Teacher, and borrowing their opinions, 
he has evidently heard every word for himself ; and he gives 
us his own impressions vividly and forcibly, just as he re- 
ceived them. Such a volume as this, is not often put forth 
before the meridian of life, and never, either before or after, 
without deep and protracted meditation. 

I do not wonder at the avidity which is hastening its 
wide circulation in England; nor at the almost unquali- 
fied praise which is bestowed upon it, by so many of the 
most competent judges in this department of sacred litera- 
ture. It was with very great pleasure, that I brought the vol- 
ume out with me, on my return from that country ; and I 
esteem it an honor, that I am permitted to assist in bring- 
ing it before the American public. That disciple must 
have thought a great deal more, or a great deal less, than 
nine tenths of his christian brethren, of the striking pe- 
culiarities of our Lord's preaching, who can read these 
highly original and finished Essays, without having his 
mind enlightened, his heart warmed, and his admiration 
of the Great Teacher very much increased. ' Blessed, 
indeed, are those servants,' who ' hear his sayings and do 
them.' 

Amherst College, Dec, 1. 1835. 



PREFACE. 



When the subject of the following Essays first engaged 
my thoughts, as many as twelve or fifteen characteristics 
of our Lord's Teaching presented themselves to notice, 
all of which I hoped to be able to illustrate in a volume. 
But the expansive nature of the subject soon warned me 
of the necessity of selection. For this end, I divided the 
series into two classes, of primary and secondary impor- 
tance ; intending to confine myself to the former. The 
same cause, however, reduced me again to compound with 
my intentions, and to omit some even of primary interest. 
Of these I maybe allowed to specify two : — the Evangel- 
icalness of our Lord's Teaching, — and the striking pecu- 
liarity that he was his own prevailing subject. These 
topics, indeed, though not formally introduced, will be 
found to be illustrated, to no inconsiderable extent, in vari- 
ous parts of the volume. But on each of them I will here 
take the opportunity of recording a few remarks. 

If any are disposed to wonder why our Lord should 
have said so much less, in the way of direct assertion, con- 
cerning his personal dignity, than his apostles, let it be 
remembered — that it was not his object to give a full verbal 
exposition of his personal claims ; that, during his earthly 
ministry, it was his aim, and a part of his humiliation^ 
! partially to conceal them ; to observe a medium course be- 



XX PREFACE. 

ween the extremes of a mean obscurity on the one hand, 
and an overwhelming - grandeur on the other; to provide 
that human agency might be left free and unconstrained in 
its conduct towards him on the one hand, and that his love 
on the other, might move on to the cross, unthwarted andfsj 
undisturbed by man ; that the solemn oblation of himself, 
which was the act to which all his ministry subserved, for 
his whole life was only a preface to his death, might nei- 
ther be prevented nor disregarded : that he left his dignity 
to be inferred chiefly from his actions, and from a compar- 
ison of his life with the writings of the prophets: that his 
divine greatness, having long been the subject of prophecy . 
it was not necessary for him to do more on this head than 
to identify himself with the prophecy. And he did this 
— explicitly affirming that they wrote of him. Bringing 
all the rays of prophetic light together, he wreathed them 
into a crown of glory for his own head. 

But, as if to compensate himself for the arrangement 
which repuiredthe temporary obscuration of his greatness, 
he was emphatically his own subject. He himself was 
almost invariably the point from which he started, the theme 
on which he enlarged, or the centre to which he returned. 
If he adverted to the great elements of nature, it was onlj 
to proclaim them emblems of himself. If he spoke of the? 
greatness of persons and objects which his hearers rever- 
enced next to the Deity, it was only to announce himsel: 
as greater than they. If he displaced the types and rites 
of the Jewish church, it was that he might occupy theii 
place himself ; clearing the entire area of the church, tc 
fill it with his own glory. He turned all the great things 
of nature, and of the ancient church, into so many margi 
nal references to the all-absorbing theme, himself ; andjea 
he frequently did it in a manner which showed that he 
considered them dignified by being so employed. He 



I. 






IB 



PREFACE. XXI 

carried this same spirit of self-aggrandizement into the 
presence of God ; he predicted that the Eternal Spirit him- 
iself should come and wait on his glory. He is distin- 
guished from every other teacher by this, that while he 
If spoke of lowliness as his chief characteristic, he seldom 
released the attention of his hearers from himself — and 
yet the heart of the christian is sensible of no inconsisten- 
cy here, for it feels that while what he has said of himself 
is measurable, what he left unsaid and un revealed, is im- 

- measurable. 

On the other subject named — the evangelical nature of 

i, our Lord's teaching — perhaps, the first thought that occurs, 
, relates to the fact of our Lord's discourses containing less 
5 of the peculiar doctrines of grace than the teaching of the 
apostles. How is the striking contrast between the gos-. 
pels and epistles, in this important respect, to be accounted 
for 1 The following considerations may furnish a satisfac- 
tory reply. 1. It was only in accordance with his own ar- 
rangements and predictions that it should be so. Hence, 

[r ,he foretold that his first disciples should do greater works 

e5 :han he did ; that their success should be greater ; and that 
it was reserved for the Spirit to lead them into all truth. 
;2. The very limited and gross apprehensions of the disci- 
ples imposed a restraint on the teaching of Christ, and de- 
, ermined the measure of his divine communications. 

i Though he had 'many things to say ' to them, he pro- 
i aounced them unable to bear the disclosure. And what 
would be the things which, under these circumstances, he 
f would necessarily withhold — what, but the more spiritual 
^ :ruths and peculiar doctrines of salvation ? 3. The object 
. md limit of his instructions appear to have been, to incul- 
cate the nature and necessity of that moral excellence 
rvhich God and heaven require ; in order that he might 

j t6 nake us feel the want of it, preparatory to the offer of his 



XX11 PREFACE. 

Holy Spirit to produce it. The full and explicit exposi- 
tion of the evangelical system, therefore, did not come 
within the pre-determined scope of his teaching. For, 4. 
He came less to preach salvation than to procure it ; to 
make known redemption, not hy a verbal and detailed an- 
nouncement of its plan, but by the visible accomplishment 
of its conditions ; to be the gospel, and to make it. He 
came to supply the facts out of which the evangelical doc- 
trines are deduced, and which must philosophically pre- 
cede them. For what is the doctrinal part of the gospel 
but the exposition of these facts ? their transplantation out 
of the historical or external world, into the intellectual or 
spiritual? 5. It might, hower, be easily shown, that 
whatever is essential to the christian system is to be found, 
in semine, in our Lord's teaching. His divinity, his atone- 
ment, the influence of his Spirit, and all the leading doc- 
trines of grace are to be found there in a condensed state, 
in a quintessence. If the principles of Christianity, as 
taught by the apostles, form a chain of evangelical truth, 
the first link, the very staple ring, is to be found in the 
teaching of Christ. The humble incrustation cannot con- 
ceal from the eye of the mineralogist the precious gem 
that dwells within, and a single blow, properly given, will 
lay bare its peculiar primitive or fundamental form : many 
of our Lord's sayings have a signification and a value far 
beyond their unpretending appearance ; nor is it difficult 
for the christian disciple to discover in them the first forms, 
the simple elements of evangelical truth, of which the 
teaching of the apostles was only the lamina, the natural 
accretions afterwards formed. His sayings are texts ; their 
writings are only the necessary amplification and comment. 
Their instructions are not so properly a new revelation, as 
the result of the opening of their eyes to behold the won- 
derful things contained in his teaching. 6. And, finally, 



PREFACE XX111 

the uniform mode of divine revelation, in all ages, required 
that the doctrines of grace should be gradually developed ; 
proceeding from the obscurity of dawn in our Lord's 
teaching, to the radiance of noon-day in that of the apostles. 

Since writing the preceding paragraph, I have been sur- 
prised at meeting with the following remarks, bearing on 
the same subject : which as they occur in a popular work 
of the present day, Abbott's < Corner Stone,' deserve a 
moment's attention. ' Others are embarrassed when they 
think on this subject :' (that is, on the greater prominence 
given to the object and efficacy of our Lord's death in the 
epistles compared with the gospels ;) ' they do not know 
how to reconcile the seeming inconsistency, though they 
endeavor to diminish it, as far as possible, by exaggerating 
and emphasizing the little which Jesus Christ did say, in 

regard to his sufferings and death He who cannot 

take the directions which Christ or John gave, for begin- 
ning a life of piety by simple repentance for the past, with 
out adding something from his own theological stores, or 
forcing the language to express what never could have been 
understood by those who originally heard it, he cannot he 
studying the gospel in the right spirit.'' To put a forced 
and mystical construction on any part of the oracles of God, 
is an act of irreverence which cannot be sufficiently dep- 
recated. But it is one thing to put them to the torture, 
compelling them to utter what they never meant ; to turn 
from them, or to drown their voice with our own, before 
they have uttered all the mind of the Spirit, is another. 

The statements cited appear at least to be unconsidered 
and unguarded ; and, on the principle which they seem to 
involve, — namely, that the understanding of our Lord's 
original hearers was the measure of his meaning, — I will 
venture to remark ; First, that, in direct contradiction to 
this proposition, it is a well-known canon of scripture in- 



XXIV PREFACE. 

terpretation, that 'the sayings of our Savior are to be ap- 
prehended, not merely in that sense to which the views of 
his hearers at the time could reach, but in the sense which 
he himself attached to them.' Second, his own practice 
contains a warrant for this canon ; for how often do we 
find him applying it to the interpretation of the Old Testa- 
ment : expounding- some of its truths in a sense more spir- 
itual and profound, than even the original propounders 
themselves conceived. Third, his express declarations, 
and the confessions of his apostles, harmonize with it. 
They frankly acknowledge, that when he adverted to the 
nature and necessity of his sufferings, they understood not 
his meaning. He reproached them with their slowness of 
apprehension. He promised his Spirit to recall his say- 
ings to their minds as so many lost truths. He intimated 
that he had left in their possession truths of which they 
little suspected the value. And after his resurrection, ' he 
said unto them, these are the things which I spake unto 

you, while I was yet with you Then opened he their 

understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures ; ' 
— obviously implying, that, up to that moment, they had 
not understood his evangelical expositions of them. Fourth, 
it seems to be necessary for the moral developement of our 
nature, that the truth employed should be such as is itself 
capable of constant expansion and new developements ; — 
that, like its Divine original, it should brighten while we 
are looking at it ; heighten while we are aspiring to reach 
it ; and thus elevate us to itself, the standard of perfection. 
Accordingly, all the first lessons set us by God in nature 
and providence, appear to be constructed on this principle. 
He who becomes a student of nature soon finds that he is 
bending over a fountain which deepens beneath his gaze. 
And what is the Jewish economy, if we desire to reach its 
interior truths, but a vast, profound, elaborated enigma, — 



PREFACE. XXV 



to which the gospel indeed brings us the key, — but the 
opening and exploration of which is yet incomplete : ex- 
cusing, if not justifying the opinion of Origen, that • a 
clear understanding of the reasons of the Israelitic econ- 
my, and of all the Levitical laws, belongs to the privileges 
of the future life.' And the teaching of Christ seems to 
possess the same profound and comprehensive character. 
Comparative anatomy informs us, not only that animated 
nature forms an ascending series of beings, beginning 
with few oigans, and increasing in number, complexity, 
and finish, up to man ; but that in some of the earliest and 
simplest links of the living chain, there is traceable a 
promise, a mute prophecy of all the rest, a rough outline 
of all that is to follow ; that many processes are sketched 
in the lower animals, the completion of which is reserved 
for the composition of man. In like manner, the entire 
system of Judaism was one compacted prophecy of the gos- 
pel, a presentiment of Christianity; in which the great 
doctrines and virtues, which it is the province of the new 
dispensation to develope and mature, may be found in the 
embryoes and elements. And, on the same principle, in the 
sayings of Christ, the gospel may be found thrown out in 
its rudiments. ' For Christ,' saith Milton, ' gives no full 
comments, or continued discourses, but speaks oft in mon- 
osyllables, like a master, scattering the heavenly grain of 
his doctrine like pearls here and there, which requires a 
skilful and laborious gatherer.' His teaching is the seed- 
plot in which the great doctrines of grace were first sown, 
to be afterwards transplanted and cultivated in the inspired 
ministry of the apostles, where they have room to luxu- 
riate and yield in perfection the fruit of life. 

Considerations like these embolden us to suppose, not 
merely that the whole evangelical system as developed by 
the apostles, lies, in its germ, in the teaching of Christ ; 



XXVI PREFACE. 



but that such is the fullness, the seminal character of his 
teaching, that even their epistles do not exhaust it. That 
they have put us in possession of every essential truth, we 
admit ; that any fundamental doctrine remains to be dis- 
covered, cannot for a moment be imagined ; but it may be 
suggested, that even with their inspired epistles in our 
hand, and regarding those epistles in the light of commen- 
taries on the sayings of our Lord, there yet remain to be 
discovered in his teaching, new aspects of some truths, the 
immeasurable compass of others, and harmonies subsisting 
between them all, beyond the perception of ordinary vision ; 
and the developement of which is reserved to reward the 
pious industry of the devout and vigorous mind. 

The church of God has been too generally content with 
the great surface-truths of revelation, — those which we 
have only to stoop for in order to possess, — but which are 
made so obvious and placed so near, not as a premium to 
indolence, but in accommodation to our moral incurious- 
ness and necessities : not as a dispensation from diligent 
investigation, but as an allurement to it where it can be 
made, and to render it unnecessary where it cannot. ' The 
kingdom of heaven ' — in the sense of celestial truth — ' is 
like treasure hid in a field ; the which, when a man hath 
found, he hideth ; and, for joy thereof, goeth, and selleth 
all that he hath, and buyeth that field ; ' and buyeth it in 
order that he may ransack, and turn up every part of it, 
and make himself master of all its treasures. And further, 
it is as if the same man, while digging for more coins and 
concealed jewels, should unexpectedly happen on a vein of 
precious ore. Hitherto, we have done little more than 
collect, estimate, and classify the more accessible treasures. 
But let the shaft which is already begun, be sunk deep 
enough, and the labors of the mine be properly conducted, 
and the discovery of many a rich and precious lode will 



PREFACE. XXV11 

demonstrate that the great globe itself is not more inter- 
laced with golden veins, and filled with precious things, 
than the field of revelation : the storehouse of the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ. 

This, indeed, is predicable of every part of Scripture ; 
but, for the reasons already glanced at, it applies especially 
to the teaching of Christ ; and if there be one part of his 
teaching to which it applies more emphatically than to 
another, I would venture to suggest that it is to what he 
taught on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. ' He shall not 
speak of himself, ' said Christ ; and, as if to supply the de- 
ficiency, to reward and provide for that disinterested and 
emphatic silence of the Divine Spirit concerning himself, 
our Lord made him the great theme of his own last dis- 
courses and promises. And when was he more original 
and explicit than when dwelling on this subject? What a 
vast tract of new truth did he add to the domains of faith 
all fertilized and enriched with the effluence of the Spirit ! 
On what topic was he more evangelical than on this ? — 
even antedating the style of the epistles, and leaving little 
if any thing for them to add either in unction or in fullness. 
What subject did he equally rely on to console his disci- 
ples, and to fill them with expectation in the prospect of 
his own departure? He was in search of the strongest 
solace ; and he had an infinite variety of subjects to choose 
from ; but out of all that multitude, the topic on which he 
chose chiefly to insist, was, the promise of the Holy Spirit. 
And what lofty things did he predicate concerning him ! 
What names of greatness and goodness did he bestow on 
him ! He made him the great promise of his new dis- 
pensation ! And yet, what doctrine, what leading doctrine 
at least, is less insisted on in the church than the doctrine 
of divine influence? And, consequently, what promise is 
less fulfilled to the church than the promise of the Spirit ? 



XXV111 PREFACE. 



It is true, an occasional sermon is preached on the subject, 
just to satisfy the sense of duty : and an occasional restless- 
ness is observable in parts of the church ; but, alas ! it is 
a starting in sleep, rather than an awaking out of it ; — like 
the spasmodic motions of a person who is visited in sleep 
by the reproachful remembrance of an important duty 
which he has consciously neglected; it is the involuntary 
agitations of the slumbering church, convulsively answer- 
ing to the unwelcome reproaches of the unslumbering con- 
science. Other prophecies are considered ; but the prom- 
ise of the Spirit, the great unfulfilled prophecy of the gospel, 
is doomed, by general consent, to stand over for future con- 
sideration. Other blessings are desired ; but this, which 
would bring all blessings in its train ; which is offered in 
an abundance corresponding to its infinite plenitude, an 
abundance of which the capacity of the recipient is to be 
the only limit ; of this we are satisfied with just so much 
as will save our sleep from deepening into death. Each 
falling shower — consecrated emblem of divine influence — 
the scantiest that moistens the thirsty earth, descends more 
copiously than the offered influences of the Holy Spirit, 
and reproaches us with the spiritual drought of the church. 
And so long have we accustomed ourselves to be content 
with little things, that we have gone far in disqualifying 
ourselves for the reception of great things ; the revivals 
of the new world are still regarded by many ' as idle tales.' 
The church itself requires conversion. We pray for 
the conversion of the world ; but the church itself, though 
in another, yet in a sober and substantial sense, needs a 
similar blessing. The object of conversion is two-fold; 
personal, and relative ; to bless us, and to make us bless- 
ings. Individual conversion accomplishes the first object, 
by placing us in a personal and evangelical relation to 
Christ ; the second can only be scripturally effected by the 



PREFACE. XXIX 

collection and organization of those who are so related to 
Christ into a church, and by that church advancing for- 
wards, and placing itself in an evangelical relation to the 
Holy Spirit. Now the prevailing sin of Christians is, that 
they are inclined to stop short at the first of these stages. 
They are, perhaps, sufficiently alive to the importance of 
preaching Christ as the author of redemption ; for they have 
their own personal experience in evidence of its necessity; 
but they are not porportionally alive to the necessity of 
divine influence as the means of usefulness ; for of that they 
have not the same evidence Their conversion to Christ 
as individuals, was scarcely more necessary to answer the 
first aim of the gospel, in their own salvation, than their 
conversion to the Spirit, in their collective capacity, is ne- 
cessary to answer the second, in the salvation of others. I 
say their conversion to the Spirit; — for the change neces- 
sary has all the characteristics of conversion ; — conviction 
of guilt in neglecting his agency, a perception of his ne- 
cessity and suitableness, and earnest applications for his 
heavenly influence. 

That a doctrine of divine influence has a place in the 
creed of the faithful we admit ; but it is one thing to assent 
to its truth and importance, and a very different thing to 
have a deep and practical persuasion of it. That the Holy 
Spirit is at present imparted to the church to a certain de- 
gree, is evident from its existence. For every believer is 
the production of the Spirit ; carries about in his own per- 
son signatures and proofs of divine operations ; and thus 
forms an epitome and pledge of the eventual conversion of 
the world. But as to the measure in which his divine in- 
fluence is afforded — who has not deplored its sanctiness ? 
From the earliest dawn of the reformation to the present 
hour, this has been the great burden of the church. What 
writer of even ordinary piety, has not bewailed and record- 



XXX PREFACE. 



edit as the standing reproach and grief of his day? 
Look back — and what do you behold ? — a procession of 
mourners, nearly all the living and eminent piety of the 
time, dressed in penitential sackcloth, moving through the 
cemetery of a church as through a Golgotha, and exclaim- 
ing in tears, ' Come from the four winds, O breath, and 
breathe upon these slain that they may live.' What do 
you behold? 'the priests, the ministers of the Lord, sanc- 
tifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly,' lamenting that 
so few attend the solemn call, and then advancing, a mourn- 
ful train, casting themselves down, and lying prostrate at 
the foot of the throne of grace, and as the representatives 
of the church, exclaiming, ' Behold, O Lord, a poor com- 
pany of creatures gasping for life! thy Spirit is vital 
breath ; we are ready to die, if thy Spirit breathe not. Pity 
thine own offspring, thou Father of mercies. Take from 
us, keep from us, what thou wilt, but, Oh, withhold not 
thine own Spirit.' Such were the actual terms in which 
the great and pious Howe led the supplications of a sol- 
emn assembly, in his day, convened to cry for the Spirit. 
And has it not been on the lips of the mourners in Zion, 
an unbroken procession ever since ? And does it not ex- 
press the sense of the church in the present day? As we 
have fallen into the train, and brought up the rear of the 
mourning suppliants, have we not deplored the absence of 
the Spirit as the great affliction of the church, and implor- 
ed his impartation as our great want, our only remedy? 

But ' the Spirit will be poured out from on high ' — would 
that the importunity and loud cries of the church, warrant- 
ed the expectation that the event were near ! And when he 
does descend, among the many blessed effects which will 
accrue, this doubtless will be one — that the teaching of 
Christ, concering him, will be hailed and studied as if 
it were a new revelation ; will be traversed and explored 



PREFACE. XXXI 

like a newly-discovered continent. The reasons of Christ 
for amplifying 1 the subject, and for laying so much stress 
on it, will then be felt in the inmost soul ; each of his dec- 
larations concerning it will seem to expand into a page, 
and be consulted as a charter fresh from heaven ; promises 
which we now repeat with freezing accents will then burn 
on our lips, and be pleaded with an earnestness not to be 
denied; but which will open the windows of heaven for 
the emission of still larger out-pourings of the Spirit. 

In that section of the Second Essay, which treats of 
'The Originality of our Lord's Teaching concerning the 
Holy Spirit,' I have remarked in the introduction, that, ' dur- 
ing the long silence of the Divine Oracle, in the space 
which intervened from the last words of Malachi to the 
coming of Christ, we know not comparatively what opin- 
ions grew up and prevailed. It is only reasoning on the 
known principles of humanity to say, that when the living 
voice of inspiration had ceased to speak, the sacred volume 
was much more likely to receive the undivided attention of 
the church than before. And with a volume so seminal of 
all truth, so constantly whispering in the ear of hope, as 
the Bible, who can say what approaches were made to 
many evangelical doctrines 1 what prophets of hope arose? 
And when once opinions, to which the wants or aspirations 
of the soul respond, have been broached, who can say to 
what consolidation, and stability they may attain ? . . . . By 
what process then shall we ascertain how much of the 
gospel is an absolute origination ; or how much is a mere 
adoption and authorisation of pre-existing opinions 1 ' 

Having subsequently perused a translation of Tholuck's 
'Hints on the Importance of the Study of the 
Old Testament,' I have learned that it is a favorite hy- 
pothesis of the neological school, that ' the Jewish religion 
coalescing with the Persian doctrines, was brought to per- 



XXX11 PREFACE. 

fection, and thus served to lay the foundation for the new 
order of things which Christ introduced. This appears 
to us to have been the true origin of these doctrines. 
Providence designed that they should be disseminated, just 
before the advent of Christ, in order that he, who was 
merely to bring the new Spirit, and, by means of this, to 
destroy the veil of the law, and to. illustrate these doctrines 
need furnish no system of doctrines, but merely announce 
by his precepts and his life, the one great doctrine; God 
hath so loved the world. Those post-Babylonian doctrines 
were illustrated, however, by the instructions of Jesus and 
the apostles, to such a degree, that they appear in an en- 
tirely new and spiritual light, as the poor and disembodied 
spirit, escaped from the lifeless body of the Rabbinical 
system.' 

Now the difference between these two quotations is so 
essential, that to spend a moment in pointing it out, may 
perhaps be considered superfluous. But lest my statement 
should have the effect, in however small a degree, of pre- 
paring the mind of an unwary reader for the reception of 
the neology contained in the quotation with which it is 
contrasted, I will take the liberty of remarking, that while 
the tendency of the latter is to detract from the value both 
of our Lord's teaching and of the Old Testament doctrines, 
by admitting the philosophy of paganism to share the hon- 
ors of divine revelation, the object of the former is to vin- 
dicate to the Old Testament the claim of having suggested 
the various evangelical phrases and opinions, which had 
obtained about the time of our Lord's appearance, and to 
assert for him the honor of having selected and authenti- 
cated such of those opinions as were true, and of having 
turned them into inspired doctrines. 

The reader is probably aware that, during the interval 
which elapsed between the cessation of the Old Testament 



PREFACE. XXXill 

oracle, and the advent of Christ, many new terms came 
into use ; especially new epithets for designating the ex- 
pected Messiah and the Holy Spirit ; — such, for instance, 
as the names, Logos and Paraclete; and, also, that vari- 
ous theological opinions prevailed ; which, while they 
pleaded an Old Testament origin, were taught, if taught 
there at all, only by inference and suggestion. Now 
when a person first becomes aware of this fact, and discov- 
ers also that some of these terms and opinions were adopt- 
ed by Christ, and incorporated by him into his New Tes- 
tament record, he may be tempted to depreciate in thought 
the divinity and originality of these particular parts of our 
Lord's teaching. 

But let him reflect, first, that as to the divine origin of 
these particular truths, — the persons who first announced 
them, no doubt, derived the idea of them from the ancient 
scriptures, and could have pointed to the precise passage 
or passages, which, in their opinion, warranted the idea. 
And, secondly, as to our Lord's claim to originality in 
teaching these 'particular truths — this becomes a question 
of mere words. For though originality was no longer 
possible, in the sense of novelty, still his office was origin- 
al — he was the first to announce these truths as divine. 

Suppose, for example, an inspired prophet were now to 
appear in the church, to add a supplement to the canonical 
books, — what a Babel of opinions would he find existing 
on almost every theological subject ! — and how highly 
probable is it that his ministry would consist, or seem to 
consist, in the mere selection and ratification of such of 
these opinions as accorded with the mind of God. Abso- 
lute originality would seem to be almost impossible. The 
inventive mind of man has already bodied forth specula- 
tive opinions in almost every conceivable form ; forestalling 
and robbing the future of its fair proportion of novelties; 

C 



XXXIV PREFACE. 

and leaving little more, even to a divine messenger, than 
the office of taking some of these opinions, and impressing 
them with the seal of heaven. Imagine him to choose for 
his theme — that vinum damonum of the church in everv 
age — the subject of a milleniurn ; and may it not be confi- 
dently affirmed, that whatever his doctrine might be, an 
anticipation of it, if not the identical doctrine itself, has 
appeared already among the thousand theories which the 
church has heard on the subject? Yet how important the 
office which would still devolve on him, in evoking the 
one truth, and dispersing the multiplied attendant errors ; 
and how worthy of a teacher sent from God. Humanly 
speaking, the task of the aged seer, in selecting from the 
eleven sons of Jesse the future king of Israel, was easy, 
compared with the task of him who has to choose from a 
multitude of speculative opinions, all of which are specious, 
and popular, and possessed of an apparent likeness, the 
one heaven-born truth, and anoint it for the Lord. 

Now such was the relation in which our Lord may be 
said to have stood to some of the doctrines of the New 
Testament. Originality, in the sense of novelty, was, on 
these particular subjects impossible: for the teeming mind 
of man, quickened to activity by some hint of scripture, 
had already occupied the ground with theories of every 
grade of merit, and opinions adapted to every taste. With 
these, hypothetically speaking, the Savior might be ac- 
quainted, or he might not. On the supposition that he did 
not know them, the doctrine he taught on either of these 
subjects, however familiar it might already have been to 
human ears, was unborrowed, original, and emphatically 
his own; it had no other channel in its descent from the 
celestial throne to the human heart, but his own inspired 
lips. On the supposition that he knew them, — his office, 
at least, was original, and equally dignified: for still he 



PREFACE. XXXV 

proclaimed the particular truth, not because man had pat- 
ronized it, but because he knew it to be the true saying of 
God. And more than that, he redeemed it from the base 
companionship of error, and made it free of the universe. 
He not merely rescued it from the gloomy region of doubt, 
but enabled it to shine in its own light, and to illuminate 
the surrounding darkness. If he found it one of the mul- 
titude, he raised it to the throne. If he found it a guess, 
he left it a doctrine — a living and incorporated member of 
the immortal body of truth. If he found it an outcast, he 
took it within the pale and royalty of truth, and surround- 
ed it with the awful sanctions of the God of truth. He 
proved himself to be the Word and the Wisdom of God. 

Had space permitted, it was my intention to have added 
two sections to this second essay ; — one, on the Originality 
of our Lord's teaching on Faith ; — and the other, on the 
Originality of his teaching on the comparative claims of 
Heaven and Earth. The former might easily be expan- 
ded into a volume, and could scarcely be illustrated in less. 
The latter requires only a specimen : which, as the pre- 
face has already become so miscellaneous, I will take the 
liberty of giving. 

Much of the preaching of Jesus was occupied in adjust- 
ing the claims between heaven and earth ; so frequently 
did he return to this theme, and so conspicuous a place did 
he assign to it in his discourses, that it may be said to be 
one of their distinguishing features. A prevailing charac- 
teristic of man, as pourtrayed in scripture, is an inordinate 
attachment to the world. Sin having expelled from 
his heart the love of God, the love of the world has rushed 
into the vacuum, and made it impossible for any but om- 
nipotence to dislodge it. Having lost that organ of spirit- 
ual vision, which, by keeping another world in view in 
rivalry with this, would have preserved the balance of his 



XXXVI PREFACE. 



affections even, the present is left to tyrannise over him 
with all the advantage of a power which is ever visible, 
ever at hand, soliciting him and making itself necessary to 
him in a thousand different ways ; while the only rival 
which it has to dread is not only invisible, but incalculably 
remote : and having: thus sustained the loss of a world, 
having thus become reduced in spiritual wealth by the 
loss of a whole, order of ennobling objects, he not only 
pours out his affections on the unworthiest things that 
offer, but he has literally idolized the most contemptible. 
Most graphically is he represented in the word of God as 
bearing the image of the earthy ; his very mind has be- 
come materialised; instead of being pictured over with 
celestial imagery, it only contains the portraiture of the 
world ; in all its chambers of imagery are depictured and 
burnt in the debasing abominations of earth. The mind, 
which with one sweep of its pinions should have reached 
the stars, settles down in the dust ; his affections, which 
were meant to rise and be diffused over an infinite circum- 
ference of which God is the centre, let themselves down, 
and labor to accommodate themselves to an indivisible 
point, a fugitive atom. As if an anchor were fixed in the 
centre, his bosom is enchained to the earth. The material 
particles of which the globe consists, do not obey the law 
by which they cohere more constantly, than man endeav- 
ors to accommodate himself to the world as his centre of 
moral gravity. 

Now the Savior addressed himself to the task of cor- 
recting this evil. Entering the mart of the busy world, 
where nothing is heard but the monotonous hum of the 
traders in vanity, he lifts up his voice like the trump of 
God, and seeks to break the spell which infatuates them, 
while he exclaims, ■ What shall it profit a man if he gain 
the whole world and lose his own soul ? or what shall he 



PREFACE. XXXV11 

give in exchange for his soul ? Were all sublunary glory 
laid at your feet, let a few years expire and death would 
force you away from your world , and then a few years 
more, and your world, and all that is in it, would he burnt 
up ; but your soul, your immortal soul — what can com- 
pensate for the loss of that?' He calls for that nobler 
world they had lost from their hemisphere, and brings it 
again within the range of their vision. He takes them to 
the threshold of the infinite, and shows it flushed in one 
part with living glories, and in another burning with the 
fiercest flames of wrath ; while he assures them that in 
one or the other of these states they will shortly be fixed 
for ever. ' Watch therefore/ saith he, ' for ye know not 
when the time is.' 

Having thrown open to view that interminable duration, 
and compelled them to see that they are actually approach- 
ing it, he proceeds to adjust its momentous claims in har- 
mony with the duties of the life that now is. It might 
have been apprehended that the vision of eternity, if once 
beheld, would utterly incapacitate us for the affairs of time; 
that the infinite grandeur of the future, having suffered so 
total an obscuration from the littleness of the present, 
would have taken revenge on that littleness, by henceforth 
engrossing our every thought. But the Savior did not 
come, as the avenging champion of eternity, to annihilate 
time and its appropriate interests. Having deposed it from 
its usurped supremacy, he takes it by the hand, and assigns 
it its place and its duties as a subject. He aims to impreg- 
nate every moment of life with endless results. Having 
weeded life of its vanities, he commands us to cultivate it 
with all that is useful and precious as fruit for the heavenly 
garner. He would have every moment of life to be so 
passed, as to fructify into an age of pleasant recollections. 

That eternity might not be an object of mere barren 



XXXV111 PREFACE. 






contemplation, he has so revealed it that its hallowing light 
falls upon fields of activity and usefulness which hefore 
were involved in darkness ; everything conducive to our 
real interest, iri every relation of life, receives its counte- 
nance, and rejoices in its sanction. If he finds us lost in in- 
dolent musing on the future, he breaks up our vacant-eyed 
reverie by the startling monition, ' Why stand ye here 
all the day idle ? Work while it is day, for the night 
cometh wherein no man can work.' That eternity might 
not overwhelm us by its solemnities, he has not only 
softened its aspect, and made it welcome as the face of a 
friend, he also engages our attention to daily duties which 
hold us in a state of healthful activity. Our life, in his 
hands, is converted into a lamp, which, like the virgins of 
the parable, or the priests of the temple, we are to keep 
bright and burning. Our various endowments are so 
many talents, which the Lord of all expects us to multiply 
by constant use. He calls us to be the almoners and agents 
of providence, to ' the poor who are always with us ;' mo- 
dels of correctness in all the relations of life ; and centres 
of light and usefulness wherever we move. It is necessary 
that celestial observations should be taken in order to con- 
struct a terrestial chart ; and having a chart to consult 
thus accurately formed, the skilful mariner is prepared to 
navigate the wastes of ocean with tranquil confidence. If 
the view we entertain of eternity disqualifies us for the 
duties of life, it is not to be traced to the gospel of Christ ; . 
he meant not that it should haunt us as a terror, but accom- 
pany us as a guide : nor will he accept the convulsive ser- 
vice which it may occasionally extort from us, by alarming 
us into a spasm of fear. He calmly enquires, ' Are there 
not twelve hours in the day ? Does not the day of life, 
short as it is, contrasted with eternity, contain time suffi- 
cient, if properly employed, for all that is truly valuable ? ' 



PREFACE. XXXIX 

And having- engaged us in bis service, and pointed out our 
duty, he gives us a glimpse of eternity to quicken the 
pulse of activity, and expects us to distribute our agency 
as equally as possible over the remaining hours of time. 

But the liability of eternity to paralyze the active duties 
of time is not to be named, as a danger, compared with the 
fatal and universal propensity of men to subordinate the 
claims of the future to the affairs of the present. While 
their enlightened judgment compels them to concede the 
point of superiority to heaven, their depraved heart is for 
giving the practical precedence to earth ; and the result of 
this variance is an attempted compromise between the two 
claimants. But against such an accommodation, the Re- 
deemer enters his protest ; appealing to the tribunal of 
common sense, he exclaims, ' No man can serve two mas- 
ters, whose interests clash.' The experiment has been 
made and repeated in every form, and in every age ; and 
he solemnly avers, with the confidence of one who knows 
that it has failed as often as it has been made, and will 
prove eternally impracticable, ' Ye cannot serve God and 
mammon.' Passing into the sanctuary, and marking the 
worldliness of the assembled hearers, he shows how ne- 
cessarily, in such soil, the seed of the kingdom must prove 
unfruitful. Visiting the place of gain, and contrasting 
the burden of thick clay which the worshipper of mam- 
mon carries, with the narrowness of the entrance to the 
way of life, he exclaims, in accents of deep commiseration^ 
' How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the 
kingdom of heaven !' Penetrating into the inmost circle 
of domestic life, and arresting the inmates in the midst of 
their household cares, he calls them to his side, and turns 
on them a look of pity as he reminds them, that while they 
are careful and cumbered about many things, 'one thing 
is needful.' He even lifts the curtain of eternity, and bids 



xl PREFACE. 



L h ! 



us approach and listen, while the voice of Dives from the 
deeps of hell, and the replies of Abraham from the realms 
of light, pronounce the moral of the tale of life. And taking 
his stand on the highway of the world, and surveying the 
busy crowds as they pass and repass, each one as eager 
as if he had just discovered the secret of happiness after a 
thousand failures, and were about to give it an instant trial, 
he points them upwards, and reminds them that the good 
they seek is there : that there is one thing to which every 
thing else desirable is appended ; and that he exhorts them 
to ' seek first.' 

It is the misfortune of some to be afflicted with that kind 
of defective sight, which prevents them from seeing to an 
ordinary distance; they are unable to distinguish the most 
towering and colossal object if placed at a short remove, 
while the merest atom brought close to the eye is magni- 
fied as with the power of a microscope. An affliction 
analogous to this in the moral sight, but pregnant with in- 
comparably greater danger, is the universal malady of 
mankind; and our Lord insists on the urgency of its re- 
moval. He finds them mistaking phantoms for realities, 
and realities for phantoms; calling an atom a world, and a 
world an atom ; practising on themselves an endless suc- 
cession of delusions ; and he gives them the alternative of 
a remedy of death. He finds them absorbed in providing 
for the temporal future, and he urges them, as they respect 
their own rationality, not to omit eternity from their reckon- 
ing. He approaches them while gazing on the near per- 
spective of time, and by raising and extending the point of 
sight, he adds eternity to the view, and leaves them lost in 
the contemplation of a boundless futurity. In all his ad- 
dresses on the future, he does not forget that we are mortal ; 
but neither will he allow us in our attentions to the present 
to forget that we are immortal. As the worshippers of 



PREFACE. 



xli 



mammon make religion subservient to the world, so he re- 
quires the worshippers of God to subordinate the world to 
religion. Instead of exhausting ourselves in efforts after 
the bread which perisheth, he reminds us that there is an- 
gel's food, and urges us to put forth our chief endeavors 
after that. He rinds us as in the midst of a spacious re- 
pository, crowded with an infinite variety of objects ; some 
of which are adapted to the body only, while others might 
form a rich dowry for an immortal soul ; some of them 
things that perish in the using, and others of them things 
that form the gold and currency of[ heaven, things on 
which God has stamped his image and superscription, and 
inscribed an infinite value. But however diversified their 
character, he finds them each soliciting the first and high- 
est place in our esteem ; and aware that we are in danger 
of lavishing our affections — those precious things which 
if given to God would bring us heaven in return — of wast- 
ing them on less than nothing and vanity, he draws near 
and expostulates, and entreats us that we cheat not our 
souls of eternal happiness by providing for them only an 
earthly portion, but that we select for them a good spiritual 
and immortal like themselves, suited to supply its impor- 
tant wants, and to gratify all their large capacities. ' Lay 
not up treasures on earth,' saith he, ' where moth and rust 
doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal : 
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither 
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break 
through and steal.' 

And by exhorting us to establish our principal interest 
in heaven, he actually consults our peace on earth : ' For 
where your treasure is,' he adds, 'there will your heart be 
also-' By choosing a heavenly treasure, our character 
and hopes, which are invariably modified by the object of 
our paramount regard, will partake of its celestial attri- 



xlii PREFACE- 

butes : for it is both ennobling in itself, and lodged in the 
only part of the universe which is exempt from calamity 
and change ; so that, while others partake of the littleness, 
agitation, and debasement, which belong to their earthly 
gods, we shall receive, by an anticipation, an impress of 
the greatness, and security, and stability of heaven ; while, 
at the same time, our temporal mercies will be enjoyed 
with a superior relish, since we should feel that the loss of 
them would leave us still in the possession of our real 
treasure entire and secure. In the prospect of a national 
convulsion, it is not uncommon for the wealthy to trans- 
mit their property for security into other lands. And, O, 
were there a country on earth perfectly exempt from all 
the changes which endanger property, that would be the 
envied land in which all would aim to invest their riches. 
But that blessed region, not to be found on the face of the 
wide earth, actually exists in the kingdom of God. Yes, 
by throwing open to us the gates of a heavenly commerce, 
he would give scope to our loftiest aims, security to our 
choicest treasures, and objects to our most capacious de- 
sires. Here, the affluent may embark their abundance : — 
instead of living for themselves let them live for God, and 
they will be remitting their property to a world where it 
shall accumulate with abundant interest ; they will be lay- 
ing up a store for the future, on which they may live splen- 
didly and gloriously for ever : they will be placing uncer- 
tian riches in a safe repository, and transmitting them into 
certain wealth. Let them acquit themselves as faithful 
stewards of the great householder ; and as the)'' dispense 
their wealth, it will direct its flight towards heaven, bear- 
ing on its wings the prayers and benedictions of those 
they have benefitted. Having made to themselves friends 
with the mammon of unrighteousness, w T hen they die, 



PREFACE. Xliii 

those friends will welcome them into everlasting- habita- 
tions. Here the humblest believer may employ his penu- 
ry : — and he will find eventually that his single mite, his 
cup of cold water, or his one talent, consecrated to God, 
has augmented into a treasure, exceeding his powers of 
computation. For every sacrifice we make in his service, 
he guarantees to requite us, — not indeed as of debt ; this 
the magnitude of the requital shows ; but of his own exu- 
berant munificence, he promises to repay us a hundred 
fold in the present life, and in the world to come, life ever- 
lasting. Every struggle against sin, every effort in the 
cause of benevolence, every holy principle exerted for God, 
he pronounces an element of future blessedness, and con- 
stitutes a claimant on his grace at the recompense of the 
just. Whatever is transmitted by the soul to the world 
above, is placed under the guardianship of omnipotence, is 
laid up securely by the throne of God. His seat is the 
centre of a circumference, within which nothing that im- 
pairs or destroys, can by any possibility intrude ; and 
which itself remains unmoved and immutable, while all 
besides is fluctuation and change. 

It is not easy to speak of the claims of heaven and earth, 
as needing adjustment, without seeming to countenance an 
erroneous impression that they are naturally at variance. 
But let it be borne in mind, that originally they were one. 
The only quarrel which eternity can have with time, is, 
when it usurps an ascendancy which, by inverting all or- 
der, and doing violence to the first principles of our nature, 
renders the happiness of the soul impossible. Let the 
present defer to the future, let it fall into its proper place 
as the handmaid of immortality, and instantly they are one 
again ; each is seen reciprocating its influence, and lend- 
ing its aid to the other, to secure to us a blessed futurity 
and to prepare us for it. But though all hostile opposition 



xliv 



PREFACE. 



3d 
,1p 



terminates with this new adjustment, it is not to be denied 
that difficulty still remains, — the natural and unavoidable 
difficulty of keeping the world from that dangerous domi- 
nation which, having once enjoyed, it is ever impatient to 
regain. New habits are to be formed, powerful propen- 
sities are to be held at bay, old and indulged inclinations 
are to be denied, and enemies which we fondly thought we 
had laid dead at our feet, suddenly starting into hostility 
again, are again to be coped with and vanquished; this is 
attended with a disheartening sense of difficulty which 
some have no sooner tasted, than they have declined the 
contest, and surrendered themselves at discretion. 

Now, while our Lord, in various ways, takes cognizance 
of this struggle — for one of his great excellencies, as the 
founder of a new religion, was the most transparent sim- 
plicity and candor — while he even enlarges on the con- 
flict, presents his followers with a plan of the battle, points 
out its imminent hazards, and exhorts them before en- 
tering on it, to ' count the cost,' he at the same time assures 
them of such supernatural succors as shall enable their 
weakness to do the deeds of omnipotence, and make per- 
severance infallible success. While he takes them to an 
eminence, and shows them the vast confederacy of evil ar- 
rayed against them, he reminds them that they struggle for 
an invisible world, that they fight in fellowship with all the 
children of the light, that more than angels are in their 
ranks, for he promises them the abundant aid of the Eter- 
nal Spirit. Their infirmities may be numerous, their sins 
may be mighty, their ignorance may seem invincible, but 
an almighty agent is employed for the special purpose of 
piercing that ignorance, overpowering that sinfulness, and 
surrounding them with an element of light and holiness. 

And even beyond this, as he leads them to the field he 
proclaims, ' Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world ; 



PREFACE. xlv 

your leader is a conqueror, advance to victory.' The his- 
tory of the first christians proves that he did not utter this 
inspiring address in vain. By this sign they conquered. 
Though the world within and the world without were in 
arms against them, they could not he depressed. They 
fought in the presence of an invisible world. They sur- 
veyed the whole array of evil, looked calmly in the face' 
of every foe, considered all that might happen, but to this 
triumphant conclusion they came, 'because he lives, we 
shall live also.' Like the earth on which they trod, and 
which continues to roll on in its orbit unimpeded by the 
earthquakes which rend it, and carrying all its atmosphere 
of storms along with it, so they, animated and impelled by 
the love of Christ, advanced in the course he assigned 
them, as steadily and cheerfully as if no ills within, no 
storms without, assailed them ; as if each step they took 
were across the heavenly threshold, and in sight of their 
appointed thrones. 

Without intending or hoping to supply the defects of 
the concluding Essay — On the Practicalness of our Lord's 
Teaching — it may not be inappropriate to close this prefa- 
tory miscellany with a few practical remarks. A variety 
of circumstances seem to concur, in the present day, aus- 
picious to the study of the gospel as a practical science. 
Two or three of these circumstances may be named. 

1. The great error of religious polemics, hitherto has 
consisted in arguing from compound dependent truths, as 
if they were ultimate. The application of the inductive 
method of investigation, however, has taught us that, as in 
philosophy, so in theology, we as yet possess but few ulti- 
mate truths ; — that principles on which parties have been 
accustomed to rely with the greatest confidence, may be 
easily carried to a point where they break down and fail 
us ; — that where two truths appear thus to clash, it is evi- 



Xlvi PREFACE. 



dent they cannot be ultimate ; — but that each of them hav- 
ing been affirmed by the God of truth concerning the same 
thing, there is no doubt whatever of their eventual coinci- 
dence in one comprehensive and axiomatic truth. In the 
mean time, we feel that we must wait patiently, pronounce 
less confidently, inquire more diffidently, look at each other 
more charitably, and, leaving the polemics of piety in which 
we differ, unite in the practice of piety in which we agree. 

2. Religion has been regarded as the great monopolist 
of mystery ; the popular ignorance of the wonders of nat- 
ural philosophy has favored this error ; and the conse- 
quence has too commonly been that the neophyte has 
brought to religion a speculative spirit, and has spent that 
breath in disputing which might otherwise have been spent 
in the race of holiness. It is a subject of congratulation, 
however, that as natural science advances, she is throwing 
a light on many of the dark things of scripture, and, at 
the same time, multiplying her own incredibilia ; so that 
wonder and scepticism will have to transport their throne 
from the region of religion into the province of science. 
And thus much of the strength which would once have 
been wasted in speculation and controversy, is now more 
usefully employed in biblical criticism, and the enforce- 
ment of piety, in acts of obedience to God, and in deeds of 
benevolence to man. 

3. The present day is pre-eminently distinguished, in 
every department, social, national, and universal ; civil, po- 
litical, and philosophical, by practical activity. Religion, 
also, is up and doing. In every thing proper to her pecu- 
liar province, she leads the van. Once more she appears 
before the world in her appropriate character, militant and 
aggressive. Hushing their mutual feuds, she is leading 
her followers forth to the conquest of a world. To fall 
into her train, is to swear obedience to the law r s of Christ. 



„. 



PREFACE. xlvii 

4. Another characteristic of the present day, whether 
for good or for evil, we stay not to inquire, is its cui bono, 
or utilitarian spirit. By this test, religion glories to be 
examined. Godliness is profitable for all things. It can 
call witnesses from all classes of the community; bring 
evidence from all parts of the earth ; and constrain even its 
enemies to speak well of it. 

It is the boast of philosophy, that any accession to our 
knowledge of nature is sure, sooner or later, to make itself 
felt in some practical application and benefit. Every addi- 
tional truth which the gospel has brought, is an additional 
principle of holiness, a fresh element of virtue ; it is, in 
effect, the addition of a new mechanical power for accelera- 
ting the motion of the world towards God. It is the pride 
of physical science, that it can lead the very elements cap- 
tive, subduing the most powerful energies of nature to its 
purposes, and employing them in a variety of useful ways. 
Spiritual triumphs, analogous to this, are familiar to the 
gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth. It gathers grapes from thorns, and figs 
from thistles. It turns the wrath of man into a song of 
praise worthy the harps of heaven. It takes the passions, 
the most intractable and unapproachable human passions, 
yokes them to the car of duty, and henceforth they run in 
the way of obedience, proud to grace its triumphs. From 
elements of vice and wretchedness, the gospel forms a new 
creature, instinct with God. These are its ordinary effects; 
but, not only does it retain all its original applicability and 
power unimpaired; it only waits occasion to develope ener- 
gies of unimagined value, and to fill the world with won- 
ders of grace. 

Do we admire its practical utility and power ? Then 
the Savior turns on us a look of personal application, while 
he repeats, ' Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and 



xlviii PREFACE. 

doeth them, T will liken him unto a wise man.' ' If ye 
know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.' His sub- 
limest doctrines were all practical. He would not have 
revealed any one doctrine contained in his word but for its 
moral effect. He measured beforehand the power of each 
to sanctify, and according to its tendency to illustrate the 
holiness of his divine nature, and to restore sanctity to our 
human, he assigned it an appropriate place in the system 
of truth. The moral of each separately, and of all com- 
bined, is simply this, ' Sin no more.' Reader, such are the 
beauty and excellence of the seal ; what is its impression 
on your heart and life 1 The character of the christian 
should be monumental, commemorative of the great facts 
and truths of'the gospel; how many of these facts and 
truths could be learnt from your character or transcribed 
from your life? ' If ye love me keep my commandments.' 

Epsom, May, 1835. 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 



ESSAY I. 
ON THE AUTHORITY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 



1 He spake as one having authority.* 



When, in the fulness of time, the eternal Son came 
forth from the bosom of the Father, he descended to a re- 
gion of spiritual darkness. Ages of inquiry, conjecture, 
and effort, had only served to demonstrate the fact — that 
man, 'by searching cannot find out God.' Legislators, 
philosophers, and poets — the pride of their time, and 
the boast of the species — had toiled to construct a system 
whose top should reach unto heaven ; but in vain ; they 
built only to the clouds. Reason, confident in her resour- 
ces, had sent forth her sons under all auspices, and in every 
direction : but they returned, defeated and disheartened ; 
the footsteps of truth could nowhere be found. In vain 
had generation after generation asked, in its way to ob- 
livion, ' What is truth? ' The devotee had urged the in- 
quiry at the shrine of his god ; the priest, at his altar of 
sacrifice ; the 1 sage had repeated it as he walked amidst 
the works and wonders of creation; but nothing was heard 
in reply ; nothing, but the faint and bewildering echo, 
• What is truth ? ' Darkness covered the earth, and gross 
darkness the minds of the people. 

Nor can the state of Judea be regarded as an exception 

3 



50 THB GREAT TEACHER. 

to the prevailing gloom. There, indeed, the ancient ora- 
cles of God were yet extant ; but their still small voice, 
heard only, at any time, by the attentive listener, had been 
long since overpowered and silenced by the dogmas of 
their professed interpreters, and the clamors of rival sects. 
The spiritual import of the sacred volume, like the seven- 
sealed roll of the Apocalypse, had long been closed to the 
Jew ; and when the lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed to 
open it, the aversion with which they turned from the sight, 
showed how unaccustomed they were to gaze on the truth. 
The darkness was universal and complete. It had settled 
down, like a pall, over the face of the whole earth. Truth 
looked down from heaven ; but from no part could she be- 
hold her image reflected. If she would relieve the gloom, 
she must descend, and shine, and dissipate it with her ac- 
tual presence. All things proclaimed the urgent necessi- 
ty that the world should be visited by 'a teacher sent from 
God.' 

Not only did this awful exigence exist, it was extensive- 
ly felt and acknowledged; and, by many of the more en- 
lightened heathens, a Divine Instructor was ardently de- 
sired. In illustration of this, the language of Plato has 
been often cited ; nor is it easy to conceive of any thing 
more conclusive and striking than his picture of Socrates 
advising his 1 pupil to forego the usual sacrifices until a 
teacher should be sent from on high. In another place, 
speaking of such an inspired teacher, he represents, with 
prophetic sagacity and precision, that ' he must be poor, 
and void of all qualifications but those of virtue alone ; 
that a wicked world would not bear his instructions and re- 
proofs ; and therefore, within three or four years after he 
began to preach, he would be persecuted, imprisoned, 
scourged, and at last put to death.' In this remarkable 
passage, we behold the divine philosopher, rising from a 



HIS AUTHORITY. 51 

mournful survey of human ignorance, turning with an air 
of despondency from every earthly resource, yet eagerly 
thirsting for a knowledge of God, and virtue, and futurity, 
till his thirst grows into a desire for celestial aid, and his 
desire matures to an anticipation, and even a prediction, 
which God was actually intending to fulfil ; perhaps, in- 
deed, we err in not cordially recognising in his language 
the presence of heavenly inspiration. And in uttering 
the desire which his words disclose, we may take it for 
granted, he was clothing the thoughts of a thousand bo- 
soms, venting the secret and cherished longings of uonum- 
bered hearts. If we though standing in the radiance of 
the ' Sun,' which has since risen on the world, are yet 
sometimes conscious of impatience, and complain of ob- 
scurity, what must have been the wishes and aspirations of 
those who, with a keen perception of their exigence, were 
sitting in darkness and the shadow of death? 

Now the appearance of a Divine Instructor, thus abso- 
lutely necessary, and ardently desired, might have been 
warrantably expected. Indubitable evidence existed that 
God already had spoken to man, at sundry times, and in 
divers manners ; and as the ignorance of the world was 
still unreclaimed, and there was no intimation that his voice 
had been final, there was ground to anticipate that, in his 
own time, he would break the silence again. Besides, the 
very presence and nature of the Jewish economy was a 
standing evidence that such was his gracious intention. 
Bearing the marks of a celestial origin, and fraught with 
important truth, it yet veiled its meaning in types and enig- 
mas, the solution of which remained to be given. Here 
were mysteries — where was the interpreter ? Here were 
shadows — the substance, 'the very things themselves,' 
must be at hand. Here were proofs that, in a former agfe, 
God had said, ' Let there be spiritual light ' — was it not 



52 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 



likely that, in the process of his new creation, the time 
would come when he would collect, and embody, and aug- 
ment this light into a glorious sun ? Here was a system 
of divine intimations, and unfinished economy — was it like- 
ly that he would leave it incomplete ? was it not more ac- 
cordant with the character of a perfect being, that, putting 
his hand a second time to the work, he would bring it to 
perfection ? 

But, beyond this, the spirit of prophecy had distinctly 
foretold that an inspired instructor should appear. ' For 
Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord 
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto 
me ; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall 
say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, 
which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from 
among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, 
and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have 
likewise foretold of these days.' Thus a prediction was to 
be found, at the very opening of the prophetic roll, an- 
nouncing the advent of a distinguished teacher, whose 
words would demand universal regard ; while his author- 
ity would be supreme, and his power invincible. Unfold- 
ing it farther, we read that he should preach the gospel to 
the poor, and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord ; 
that he should set judgment in the earth, and the isles 
should wait for his law ; that the Gentiles should come to 
his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. And 
as he was its earliest, so he was also its latest theme. For, 
reading on to its closing lines, we find it predict him as 
the Messenger of the covenant who was yet to come ; and 
the Sun of Righteousness yet to arise. His name was 
the first which prophecy had uttered ; as often as it spoke, 
it resumed the inspiring theme; and when at length it 
expired, his name lingered on its lips. ' When the ful- 



HIS AUTHORITY. 53 

ness of time was come, God sent forth his Son? ' Hear, 
O heavens ; and be astonished, O earth ! ' the appointed 
Instructor appears, and proves to be no less a being than 
the Son of God himself. It is true, the deep necessities of 
man, the riches of the divine benevolence, and the glowing 
colors of prophecy, might have kindled and justified the 
expectation of a most illustrious teacher ; but that he 
should have appeared in the person of the Eternal Word ex- 
ceeds the highest flight of human hope ; that he should have 
come from the bosom of the Father, was an excess of good- 
ness, one of those splendid surprises of grace, by which 
mercy delights to melt the obduracy, and to win the confi- 
dence of our guilty race. 

The circumstances attending the advent of so illustrious 
a Prophet, must be entitled to receive our profound atten- 
tion. With the outlines of these we are all familiar. 
The condescending object of his mission required that, for 
a time, he should hold the essential glories of his nature in 
abeyance : accordingly he mysteriously allied himself to 
our condition ; ' the Word was made flesh.' The strain 
of prophecy had assigned the scene of his life and labors 
to Judea ; and in that favored land he appeared. That he 
should have grown in wisdom as he arose to maturity, was 
only according to a law of our nature — an ordinance of 
his own divine appointment — since it is only by a gradual 
development that the faculties of man arrive at perfection; 
but the office he had come to assume, and the divine quali- 
fications he brought to ifc| supposed him superior to human 
tuition ; and accordingly he sought it not. When in 
childhood, he mingled a moment with the doctors of the 
temple, ' they were astonished at his understanding ;' his 
inquiries were more instructive and replete with wisdom 
than their replies. On an after occasion, their surprise at 
his stores of sacred science was augmented by their 



54 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

knowledge of the fact, that he had ' never learned,' never 
approached the schools of human instruction. He had 
access to a tree of knowledge they knew not of. As his 
dignity was of an order distinct from earthly pomp, inca- 
pable of being diminished by its absence, or of being em- 
bellished by its presence, he entirely dispensed with it. 
The various gradations of human condition were all open 
and free to his choice, but of these he selected the lowliest ; 
and however astonishing the selection may appear to those 
who place distinction in opulence and rank, to him who 
had already stooped from an infinite height in becoming 
man, the varieties of earthly rank were as nothing, were 
only minute degrees of littleness. The place of his birth, 
like a place constructed from the very wrecks of poverty, 
was entirely swept of every trace of luxury, every vestige 
of indulgence, and seemed sacred to humility alone. And 
the lowliness of all his subsequent life strictly accorded 
with the humbleness of his birth. Had he come in the 
pomp of outward state, the multitude would have been de- 
barred from his presence, and the regards of men would 
have been divided between the attractions of his earthly 
rank, and the claims of celestial truth ; but by choosing 
the low condition of the great majority, and declining the 
tinselled drapery which charms the eye, he graciously 
made himself accessible to all, while he seemed to put for- 
ward truth alone as the only object demanding their notice 
— to challenge their whole attention to the native worth, the 
intrinsic importance of the doctrines he announced. 

But though, for the reasons assigned, he assumed the 
most bare and unpretending simplicity, as the hour for 
opening his divine commission drew nigh, the public mind 
was apprised of the event by ■ wonders in heaven above, 
and signs in the earth beneath-' A herald, preceding his 
steps, aroused the nation, by the solemn announcement that 



HI8 AUTHORITY. 55 

he was now at hand ; a herald, whose office was deemed 
so important as the precursor of Christ, that even he had 
been the subject of ancient prediction ; while, to prepare 
the minds, and to excite the expectations of those he ad- 
dressed, the burden of his message was nothing less than 
the stern necessity of immediate repentance, and the ap- 
proaching erection of a heavenly kingdom : * Repent ye, 
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' The voice came 
pealing from the Judean desert, peopling its path wherever 
it swept with echoes of astonishment and alarm ; and as it 
passed over the banks of the Jordan, rung through the pala- 
ces and streets of Jerusalem, and startled even the distant 
shores ; the wondering land went out in crowds, the san- 
guine, the envious, the devout, the anxious, the oppressed, 
the curious — priest, politician, populace — all flocked and 
thronged to the scene of this remarkable prodigy ; where, 
having won their admiration and credence by the severe 
sanctity of his life, and agitated their fears by the bold and 
alarming tenor of his address, he awoke in them vague but 
elevated anticipations of ' him that should come,' and took 
from them a solemn pledge, by baptism, that as soon as 
that Illustrious Personage appeared they would enroll 
themselves among his disciples. • Now when all the peo- 
ple were baptized,' while the herald voice was yet ringing 
in their ears, and their expectation was raised to the utmost 
pitch, Jesus, the subject of prophecy, the object of hope, 
the desire of nations, appeared, and with ineffable conde- 
scension received, at the hands of John, the baptismal rite. 
Having thus honored the ministry of his servant, and rati- 
fied and obeyed existing laws, he ascended from the wa- 
ters, and prayed ; and as he prayed, 'Lo, the heavens were 
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending 
like a dove, and lighting upon him : and, lo, a voice from 
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 



56 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

well pleased.' Such was the splendid scene of his divine 
inauguration to an office, to which we behold him appoint- 
ed by the concurrent suffrages of the eternal Father and 
the Holy Spirit ; invested with the authority, and enjoying 
the complacency of the one, anointed and endowed with 
the unmeasured fulness of the other ; an office which was 
destined to absorb all moral authority, distinction, and pow- 
er, and in the discharge of which, whatever he uttered 
was henceforth to be regarded as law and life. 

In the following essays, I propose to point out the lead- 
ing features of our Lord's instructions. My object, be it 
remarked, is not to attempt a detailed and textual exposition 
of the truths he taught, the words he uttered — though 
these, of necessity, will be constantly before us, as our 
only data and source of illustration — but to elicit and ex- 
emplify the peculiar qualities by which these truths and 
words, when viewed as a whole, are distinguished. With 
the substance of what he taught, we are all more or less 
familiar ; since, in common with the stupendous miracles 
which marked his path, the purity and perfection of his 
character, his amazing death, and glorious resurrection, it 
forms an important part of our scripture reading, and is 
one of the ordinary topics of pulpit instruction ; but, if I 
mistake not, the impression which is generally entertained 
of the claims of Christ as a teacher, is most disproportion- 
ately inadequate ; owing, perhaps, partly to the absorbing 
attractions which invest the subject of his atoning death, 
and partly to that eclipsing flood of light which immediate- 
ly afterwards burst on the church in the ministry of the 
apostles; for, by a known principle, truth evolved and il- 
lustrated will supplant and succeed in the mind the same 
truth condensed and primitive, however superior its source, 
and throw over it an air of undeserved disparagement. 
Were it proposed to magnify his office as the great Proph- 



HIS AUTHORITY. 57 

et of the church, it would be important to remark that the 
preaching of the apostles, subsequent to his ascension, 
was virtually the mere continuation of his own preaching- ; 
that they were simply the organs and oracles through 
which he spoke ; as much so as when he had sent them 
forth, by two and two, to proclaim through Judea the king- 
dom of God ; the only difference being, that he had now 
removed the scene of his instructions from earth to heaven : 
but, without recurring to this consideration, and confining 
ourselves entirely to the specimens we possess of his per- 
sonal teaching, it may easily be made apparent that, in the 
most literal and comprehensive sense of the expression, 
1 never man spake like this man.' And in adopting the 
plan contemplated, of exemplifying the peculiar character- 
istics of his earthly teaching, I am principally moved by 
the persuasion, that it is best adapted to exhibit an enlarg- 
ed, connected, and impressive view of the emphatic truth 
of this declaration. 

On meeting with an allusion to our Lord's discourses, 
we naturally recur, in thought, to his sermon on the 
mount, to his parables, his charge to his apostles, his more 
lengthened vindicatory replies to the questions and impu- 
tations of his adversaries, his terrible prophetic denuncia- 
tion of the Jewish priesthood and nation, and his valedic- 
tory address to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. 
These, when brought from their various detached positions 
in the Gospels, and grouped together in the mind, assume, 
perhaps, a larger appearance than the cursory reader had 
before attached to them. He must, however, be aware, 
that we possess but a very small proportion of what Jesus 
actually delivered. It is not to be imagined that he, who 
went about doing good, and who turned every event into 
an occasion of usefulness, would travel from place to place, 
with his disciples, in silence. Rather, we infer from the 



58 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

characteristic inquisitiveness which some of them showed, 
and his uniform readiness to reply, that the very scenes 
through which he walked, if nothing else, would furnish 
him w T ith a perpetual occasion of instruction ; that, in 
traversing a land so often pressed by angels' feet, so rich 
in the relics of miracle and devotion, that its very soil had 
lost its gross materiality, and every object had acquired a 
supernatural aspect, he would often advert to ancient times, 
making them the text of hallowed remark, and thus turn 
the very dust he trod into the gold of wisdom. And yet, 
though so much of his time was necessarily occupied in 
frequent, circuitous, and protracted journeys, a few frag- 
ments, incidentally given, are all that we frave of his di- 
vine communications by the way. 

But we are not left to mere conjecture as to the probable 
occasions on which he taught. The scene of the first 
discourse he is recorded to have uttered, appears to have 
been Jerusalem ; but of that memorable unsealing of the 
fountains of the waters of life, we only know that, in con- 
junction with his miracles, it was the means of inducing 
many to believe on him. To form an idea of the immense 
proportion in which the amount of his teaching must have 
exceeded what is on record, we have only to recall the 
following expressions : ' And Jesus returned in the power 
of the Spirit into Galilee ; and there went out a fame of 
him through all the region round about. And he taught 
in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came 
to Nazareth, and preached there. And he came down to 
Capernaum, and taught them on the sabbath days. And 
he said, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities 
also ; for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the 
synagogues of Galilee.' These intimations are all to be 
found in a single chapter, the 4th of Luke; and only refer 
to a single period, the opening of his ministry. But if we 



HIS AUTHORITY. 59 

bear in mind that similar intimations are dispersed through 
the gosples, and are equally applicable to all the subse- 
quent stages of his life, we shall be vividly impressed, 
that what we read is merely a hint of what he delivered. 
What synagogue in Galilee, if not in Judea, did not re- 
sound to his gracious voice? What sabbath did not be- 
hold him breaking the bread of life to famishing crowds 1 
He held the key of all the treasures of wisdom, and he 
distributed of its stores with the affluence and profusion of 
unwearied beneficence. He had come to sow the earth 
with truth, and wherever he went he scattered in abund- 
ance the incorruptible seed. What has been transmitted 
by the holy evangelists is all that is necessary to inform 
and to sanctify ; had all that he uttered in the course of 
his laborious ministry been preserved — for he never pro- 
nounced an idle word — the voluminous mass would have 
been inaccessible to the great majority, and thus its design 
would have been defeated ; ' for I suppose the world itself 
would not have been able to receive the books that should 
be written.' 

We may, I think, warrantably suppose that, on com- 
mencing his public ministry, the adorable Redeemer had 
present to his comprehensive mind, "an outline of the truths 
which should form the scope of his teaching. The worth- 
lessness of formal ceremonial obedience ; the spirttuality 
of the law and its eternal obligations ; the holy, benevo- 
lent, and paternal character of God ; the relations in 
which we stand to God, and to each other ; the display of 
his grace in the gift of his Son for human salvation ; the 
spiritual nature of the gospel kingdom ; the necessity of 
prayer, repentance, and holiness in those who belong to it; 
the agency of the Holy Spirit to enlighten, renew, and 
sanctify the soul ; the sublime fact of his own divine ap- 
pointment to be the Savior and Judge of the world ; these 



60 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

were the momentous truths on which he chiefly dwelt, and 
to these, whatever the immediate occasion of his speaking, 
he perpetually returned. Like some of the celestial bodies, 
indeed, which refuse to come under any astronomical ar- 
rangement of signs, some of the lights which he kindled 
and placed in the great firmament of truth stand out in 
isolated grandeur and shine apart. But though this was 
to be expected from the awful extent of that ignorance he 
came to enlighten from the stores of his wisdom, and the 
variety of occasion which called it forth, the mass of his 
divine instructions will be found to come under the enu- 
meration we have specified. And it is from his discourses 
and discoveries, on these topics, that we now proceed to 
exhibit those distinguishing marks of his teaching on 
which we propose to treat. 

It is impossible to peruse the instructions of Christ with- 
out remarking the tone of authority which pervades them : 
this was the characteristic by which his hearers, on several 
occasions, appear to have been chiefly impressed ; and to 
this, therefore, we think it natural to advert first. Of his 
personal appearance, and general address, we are left in ig- 
norance : nor is it necessary, that, in order to form an idea 
of his teaching, we should be able to imagine them. For 
this purpose we have only to suppose, what is surely allow- 
able, that they were in no way unfriendly to useful effect ; 
and that, whatever the theme which engaged his tongue, 
his voice, and words, and gestures accorded with it, being true 
to nature, and to the eloquence of holy human feeling. 
And hence, the authority with which he spoke was not of 
one unvaried character, but was marked and modified by 
the nature of his subject. There was authority in his in- 
vitations and promises, not less than in his denunciations 
and commands, for they were uttered in the language of 
independent goodness and power ; but while we hear in the 



HIS AUTHORITY. 61 

former the overflowings of paternal tenderness and love, 
we recognise [in the latter the tones of the lawgiver and 
the judge. Availing myself of this variety, it may serve 
to promote distinctness and easier recollection, if I classify 
the quotations I intend to make accordingly. 

I. There are passages which exhibit especially the au- 
thority of goodness. ' Come unto me, all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden ; and I will give you rest.' ' If any 
man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink,' ' Him that 
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.' Who can 
listen to these great and gracious announcements without 
feeling himself standing in the presence of superior good- 
ness ? His first emotion may be that of admiring grati- 
tude at the display of so much benignity and compassion ; 
but scarcely can it fail to be followed by the delightful yet 
awful impression, that he is occupying holy ground, stand- 
ing near the fountain of mercy itself. What distinguished 
dignity and grace do we recognise in sentences such as 
these ; 4 1 am the light of the world ;' ' I am the bread of 
life : ' ' I am the way, the truth, and the life ;' ' I am the 
good shepherd, and give unto my sheep eternal life : ' ' I 
am come that the}'' might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly.' When from the midst of the 
burning bush Jehovah proclaimed himself, / am that lam, 
he announced his independent existence and self-sufficient 
perfections ; in other words, he declared what he is in 
himself. In these declarations of Jesus, we recognise the 
same ineffable Being describing what he is to his people ; 
laying open the resources of his infinite nature, appropria- 
ting and applying them, with high complacency in the act, 
to the wants of our guilty race : in each instance, the dig- 
nity addressing us is the same, only that in the language of 
the Incarnate Word, the awful is exchanged for the attrac- 



62 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tive and gracious. He spoke like the soul of universal 
goodness, conscious of a power of breathing into prostrate 
humanity the breath of life ; of entering the vast capaci- 
ties of the world, and filling them all with a fulness of joy. 
And, as the only other illustration we shall adduce, think 
of the opening of his divine discourse on the mount of 
Beatitudes. How like a cloud of goodness did he crown 
the honored mount, and shower his benedictions with a 
copiousness, which showed that it was at once his pleasure 
and his prerogative to bless. In a way which evinced 
that, while so employed, he was only engaged in his own 
peculiar province; that the treasures of eternity were at his 
command ; that in the disposal of them he knew no con- 
trol ; that he thought it no robbery to enact the God ; he 
rejected the minions and favorites of the world, and, calling 
authoritatively on a peculiar people, he distributed them into 
classes, assigned to each an appropriate award, and made 
them free of the universal kingdom of God. Having 
brought into the world the accumulated treasures of the 
eternal God, thus publicly did he adopt his heirs, and 
authoritatively assign to each his respective share. Turn- 
ing to such as might suffer for his • name's sake' last, he 
declared that 'great should be their reward in heaven;' 
thus disclosing the dignity which attached to his name, 
and the unlimited authority he possesses in heaven. 

II. There were occasions when he spoke with the au- 
thority of greatness. • He that hath ears to hear,' said he, 
* let him hear ;' and in thus bespeaking universal and sub- 
missive attention, he was only repeating the command 
from the excellent glory which had summoned the world 
to listen while he spoke, and to receive every word he 
might utter as law and life. In accordance with the spirit 
of that command, he did not hesitate to compare himself 



HIS AUTHORITY. 63 

with the most distinguished lights of the Jewish church, 
and to claim pre-eminence over them all. Jonah was one 
of the most exalted names of which the Israelites could 
boast. His voice, like a blast from the trump of God, had 
pealed through the streets of Nineveh, and had made all 
its palaces tremble: his preaching had humbled the mighti- 
est nation of the east ; had instrumentally preserved an 
empire from destruction ; had caused their religion and 
their laws to be revered by the surrounding lands, and had 
greatly exalted the God of Israel before the heathen. Yet 
aware that all these impressions of Jonah's greatness weTe 
vividly present to their minds, • behold,' said he, ' a great- 
er than Jonah is here!' Solomon with them was a name 
for glory. As the founder of their magnificent temple, 
as the instrument of raising their nation to the loftiest 
point of prosperity, as the most highly endowed and wisest 
of men, the depository and personification of wisdom, they 
hallowed his name with a reverence which fell little short 
of idolatry : so that to assert superiority to him was, in 
their eyes, to claim to be considered as more than a man ; 
as passing beyond the limits of humanity, and invading the 
precincts of Deity. Yet aware that such was their high 
and jealous regard for his fame, and while standing amidst 
the splendid memorials of his greatness, ' Behold,' said 
he, 'a greater than Solomon is here !' Not only did he 
claim to eclipse their brightest luminaries, he spoke of all 
the flower and prime of their nation, as having longed to 
complete their earthly distinctions by sitting at his feet, 
and following in his train. ' He turned unto his disciples, 
and said, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your 
ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many 
prophets, and kings, and righteous men, have desired to 
see those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; 
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard 



64 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

them.' And, as though to extinguish with a breath, and 
forever, all idea of rivalship with him, he distinctly as- 
sumed and appropriated as his right, the title of authority 
his followers had placed at his feet, and affirmed his claim 
to the entire subjection and allegiance of their faith. ■ Ye 
call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am ; 
one is your master, even Christ.' Thus taking possession 
of the sacred domain of conscience in his own name, he 
erected a throne whose supremacy it is treason to question, 
and blasphemy to attempt to usurp. 

In his graphic and awful allusions to the last day, in 
none of which he fails to make prominent the glorious 
tribunal of the Son of man, what a voice of authority and 
majesty is heard to speak ! While reading, for instance, 
his parabolical representation of it, in the 25th of Matthew, 
how imperceptibly but irresistibly is the attention engaged 
and the heart subdued ; till, having marked with conscious 
concern the partition betwixt the sheep and the goats, and 
intensely listened to his portentous addresses to each, and 
trembled at the temerity evinced in the defence of the wick- 
ed, and sympathised with the characteristic reply of the 
righteous, we hang with breathless anxiety on the lips 
which pronounce their respective awards, and feel at the 
breaking up and departure of the vast assembly to their 
separate states, as though we ourselves had been arraigned 
in his august presence, how entirely we are in his hands, 
and how insignificant we are there. Having amazed his 
hearers by the announcement of that partial resurrection 
which accompanied and adorned his own triumph over 
the grave, he bade them reserve their wonder for the far 
more impressive scenes of the last day ; ' Marvel not at 
this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall 
come forth.' If we would recognise the authority which 



I 

HIS AUTHORITY. 65 

belongs to every part of his teaching 1 , we have only to re- 
alize the thought, that in listening to him, we are actually 
listening to the voice which is soon to resound through all 
the nations of the dead, and to which we ourselves shall 
reply by awaking and leaving the chambers of the grave. 
When all the universe shall be convened for judgment, the 
only parties remaining will be He who judges and they 
who are judged ; of all the multiplied relations which now 
subsist, that which makes us accountable to God will alone 
be felt: so that, were it possible in that awful juncture for 
every order of created beings to disown and desert us, the 
calamity would fail, from its comparative insignificance, to 
attract our notice. Yet the Savior unequivocally implies 
that if he alone ' profess to be ashamed ' of us, our doom 
will be sealed: that it will be only for him to disown us, 
happiness and hope will instantly desert us, and from that 
moment we shall have to date our woe. Virtue, wherever 
it exists, is greatness of the highest order ; for it allies us to 
supreme greatness ; but, as though he represented and em- 
bodied universal holiness in his own person, as though he 
were at once the author and champion of all righteousness, 
he engages to reward every act that befriends it, as an 
honor conferred on himself; while, whatever opposes it, 
even in thought, he describes as a violence offered to his 
own nature which he feels himself bound to resent. * Ye 
did it unto me, or ye did it not unto me ;' these are the 
terms of aggravation in which he depicts himself describ- 
ing every act, and by which he informs us that, as he sits 
on the throne of judgment, the great centre of the congre- 
gated world, every act will be seen, like a line, pointing to 
him as its object and end ; or else, in forgetfulness and 
enmity, diverging from him, and losing itself in outer 
darkness. 

The name of a person is a familiar formula to denote his 

4 




66 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

character and influence. The name of God is a compen- 
dious idiom of scripture, importing his glory, the fulness 
and totality of his divine perfections. Hence, every thing 
peculiar to the legal economy was prescribed in his name 
as the Fountain of authority, or was required to be done to 
his name, as its only legitimate object and end. In intro- 
ducing the christain economy, we find Jesus denoting his 
power and supremacy in the same manner. Copying the 
example of Deity, he impressed his name upon every act, 
and object, and office, peculiar to the new dispensation. 
His disciples, as often as they desired to call down spiritual 
blessings, were to employ his name, and their plea would 
prevail. They were to gather together for social worship 
to his name. They were to baptize to his name. In his 
name they were to summon and subvert the strongholds of 
idolatry and sin, and to arouse the nations from the slum- 
bers of spiritual death. Speaking in his name, they were 
to find the ordinances of nature miraculously obedient to 
their voice. His name was to be their watchword, their 
badge of distinction, the principle of their piety, the bond 
of their union, the end of their actions, the authority for 
their conduct, and the source of their success. Nothing 
was to be recognised or received in his kingdom, which 
did not bear the superscription of his name ; every thing 
was to confess his supremacy, by acknowledging him for 
its author, or else for its ultimate design. 

But these illustrations of the dignity which marked the 
teaching of Christ might be multiplied indefinitely. I do 
not profess to have selected the best : for when I have 
hoped the difficulty of selection was over, a new specimen 
has suddenly occurred, bringing in its train a host of fresh 
illustrations, as eligible as those already cited. It is one of 
the peculiarities of our Lord's teaching, that he was his 
own subject; and seldom does he release our attention 



k 

a:.; 

ere 



HIS AUTHORITY. 67 

from the exalted theme. As if he sought to be always 
present to our eye, he converted all nature into an index to 
his greatness, treated it as an intended system of emblems 
of himself. There is a sense in which the much-admired 
saying of Plato, that light is ' only the shadow of God,' 
was applied by our Lord to himself. ' I,' said he, ' am the 
light of the world; ' the sun is only 'my emblematic rep- 
resentative.' Water, and air, and light, and life, the great 
elements of existence, the universal principles, were se- 
lected by him as the only adequate emblems of his greatness. 
How numerous the occasions in which he partially re- 
moved the veil of his greatness ; heightening our concep- 
tions of his majesty, by the terms of reserve in which he 
spoke of it. His pre-existence, his personal dignity, his 
prospective glory; these were themes familiar to his tongue. 
1 He thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; ' and 
accordingly when he claimed the equality, he did not em- 
to i ploy any pomp of words, he did not appoint a public oc- 
ar ' casion, and assemble the nation, and command attention by 
nd I the trumpets and thunders of Sinai; like one to whom all 
lot i greatness was familiar, he simply announced it in his com- 
ing i mon speech. ■ As the Father,' said he, ' knoweth me, even 
icb u so know I the Father. The Son restoreth to life whom 
jng ) he will. All things that the Father hath are mine. I and 
i my Father are one. I appoint unto you a kingdom.' 
Greatness, which baffles and astonishes our conceptions, 
he spoke of in a tone of unmoved tranquillity. He lays 
c his hand on the throne of God, with the spontaneous ease 
of an eternal habitude. Arraying himself in all the per- 
fections of Godhead, and putting on his head the crown of 
Deity, he assumes his seat at the right hand of the Father, 
and claims a community of supreme honors. Grandeur, 
arwhich the heart of man hath not imagined, and which 
iieven his apostles could not glance at without emotions of 



Ido 

have 



onecrt 

is to 




68 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

unutterable wonder, he speaks of without any effort, and 
distributes without any ostentation. Astonishment is only 
for those to whom knowledge is novelty; but 'the glory 
which is to be revealed ' to us, is ' the glory which he had 
with the Father before the world was ; ' the unapproacha- 
ble splendors of the celestial state, he speaks of as ever 
present to his mind, as the natural and familiar scenes of 
his Father's house. The heavenly heights, to which we 
can ascend only as we are succored and raised by an om- 
nipotent arm, was the state of exaltation with which he 
had ever moved on a level, and from which he had visited 
us only by accomplishing a laborious descent. He car- 
ried our views of his greatness from the present to the 
future; declared that his final doom of the wicked will be, 
1 depart from me ; ' importing that banishment from him 
will be exile from happiness, the consummation of human 
woe : while on the other hand, the peculiar and eternal 
charm of that world where all is glorious, is to consist in 
the manifestation and enjoyment of his presence. ' Where 
I am, there also shall my servant be.' ' I will that they 
be with me where I am, to behold my glory.' 

Under this head, it is needful to remark, that the pervad- 
ing style of our Lord's teaching is that of assertion and 
testimony. While it pre-supposes the laws of reason, it 
does not, nor could it without manifest incongruity, make 
an appeal to them. His disclosures of truth are necessa- 
rily dogmatic. But since man, if he is to be treated as a 
rational being, must have adequate grounds on which to 
rest his belief, our Lord in the stead of arguments, con- 
structed a basis of miracles. He claimed to be 'believed 
for his works' sake.' They were the hand of God, en- 
dorsing, and attesting as true whatever he revealed. Hav- 
ing thus acquired a right to dictate, he could not have sub- 
mitted the principles he announced to the ordinary process 



HIS AUTHORITY. 69 

of argumentation, without implying that human reason- 
ing, our present impaired perceptions of truth, was a surer 
ground for reliance than the purest reason ; he would have 
been expunging faith from christian virtues, exalting hu- 
man reason, or that which stands for it, above the wisdom 
of God, and treating it as though in the sphere of religion 
it were perfect, and at home ; whereas he found it prostrate 
and lost, and had to re-kindle its extinguished torch with 
the very first elements of sacred knowledge. Surrounded 
with divine credentials, he took his stand as a living ora- 
cle, and demanded credence of all who heard his unreason- 
ed verities. He spoke as one having authority, addressing 
himself to humility, obedience, and implicit faith. Every 
science has its data: fundamental principles assumed to 
be true, on the unquestioned authority of which all its 
deductions and applications rest ; in the science of the- 
ology, the sayings of Christ are ultimate truths. From 
these, as from first principles, all our reasoning in religion 
must proceed : to call in question their authority, would be 
to disturb and subvert the foundations of truth. His dic- 
tates constitute the rudiments of sacred science ; and they 
are to be acquiesced in, as the reasons of duty, and the laws 
of faith. 

III. A third quality, which imparted a style of awful 
authority to our Lord's teaching, was solemnity. In the 
Old Testament, as I live, sailh the Lord, is a form of di- 
vine asseveration, which compels attention ; and which, by 
giving the existence of Jehovah in pledge, imparts to sen- 
timents already grave in themselves the exceeding awful- 
ness of an infinite oath. Answerable to this, is that re- 
markable formula employed by Christ, and peculiar to him, 
xvith which he so often commands attention, as with the 
blast of a trumpet, • Verily, verily, I say unto you.' The 



70 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

reiteration of the first word, proceeding from the lips of him 
who is c the truth,' and ' the word of God,' invests the an- 
nouncements which follow with a superlative sanctity and 
solemnity, as if they came to us legibly impressed with 
the stamp and seal of God. Solemnity of address, at all 
times affecting, is never more so than when, like elemental 
thunder, it proclaims the terrors of the Lord. Whoever 
may he the organ of divine denunciation, he has only to 
evince that he feels the weight and burden of his message, 
in order to obtain respectful audience from the conscience 
of the sinner, and to awaken and authenticate its most 
hidden forebodings. But what an appalling accession to 
the Redeemer's power of rebuke is derived from the con- 
sideration of his prevailing compassion, as well as of his 
mysterious resources to fulfil and to punish. The voice 
of him who was • meek and lowly in heart,' uttering the 
hoarse and exasperated accents of wrath, is more than a 
recollection of Sinai. But how was it possible that even 
mercy itself could visit a scene like that which he travers- 
ed, and maintain a style of unmingled tenderness. Ac- 
cordingly, there were occasions when, surveying the proud, 
hypocritical, and guilty throngs which crowded his path, 
he clothed himself with zeal as with a garment, and, with 
a consuming jealousy for the insulted majesty of God, 
* took them into his lips, and smote them with the sword 
of his mouth.' Witness the cleansing of the temple. In- 
tent on gain, the Jews had converted the holy place into a 
scene of sacrilegious traffic ; they had turned the ancient 
and solemn passover itself to profit ; they bartered deep in 
the blood of human souls ; they worshipped mammon in 
his Father's house. But 'suddenly coming to his temple,' 
he flamed around its hallowed walls, • like a refiner's fire,' 
and with the tones of injured and insulted Deity, rained on 
their consciences such strokes of terrible dismay, that they 



HIS AUTHORITY. 71 

eagerly sought refuge from his holy indignation in-flight, 
leaving him the Lord, and sole possessor of the sanctuary. 
But chiefly, let us recall to our recollection the unbrok- 
en series of pregnant woes which he denounced during 
his last visit to the temple. Long had he walked, like an 
incarnate conscience, through their guilty land; and often 
had they been troubled, and trembled at the rebuke of his 
sacred presence. Having nearly filled the capacious meas- 
ure of their iniquity by rejecting him, they were about to 
make it overflow by his crucifixion. Undeterred by the 
appalling prospect, he came with unfaltering step to the 
scene of his sufferings, to finish the work which was given 
him to do. Finding himself surrounded in the temple by 
a large assemblage of Jewish doctors, scribes, and lawyers, 
and pharisees, the very elements and essence of the nation's 
guilt ; he assailed and demolished the enormous fabric of 
sanctimonious 1 hypocrisy, which their laborious impiety 
had reared, and, with the fidelity and fearlessness of the 
king of martyrs, denounced and delivered his final protest 
against the pride and the power which upheld it. They 
had occasionally heard his fearful comminations before, and 
trembled for their security, for every word was a weapon ; 
but now, having regularly invested and approached their 
fortified guilt, he opened on them the dreadful artillery of 
his divine malediction. An occasional flash had before 
apprised them that a storm might be near ; but now, hav- 
ing collected together all the materials of tempest into one 
black and fearful mass, and having awed them to silence 
as nature is hushed when awaiting a crisis, he discharged 
its tremendous contents, in one volleyed and prolonged 
explosion, on their guilty and unsheltered heads. He 
arraigned them as though he had already ascended the 
seat of doom, and laid open all the sepulchral recesses of 
their iniquity, as though he read from the book of God's 



72 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

remembrance. Hypocrisy was unable to conceal itself in 
the clouds of incense which it offered. The proud, the 
covetous, the intolerant, he confounded and covered with 
the shame of detection and conscious guilt. As they came 
up for judgment, in succession, he fulminated against them 
the woes and imprecations of his wrath, ' the wrath of the 
Lamb,' in tones anticipating those of their final sentence. 
1 Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites ! ' • One 
woe is past, and behold, another woe cometh.' ' Woe unto 
you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites ! ye serpents, ye 
generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of 
hell 1 ' That solemn scene, remembering the character of 
the Great Reprover, and the impending judgments of 
which it was prognostic, may well remind us of the seven 
apocalyptic thunders uttering their voices ; and often, may 
we suppose, would the echoes of his denunciations return 
upon the ears of those who heard them in after years, like 
the distant, but quailing reverberations of the mount that 
burned. 

IV. Another characteristic of the authority which 
marked the teaching of our Lord, and the last I propose 
to illustrate, is that which he discovered in his legislative 
and judicial capacity. To disturb the majestic repose of 
the divine law, argues, on the part of him who attempts it, 
either the final stage of insane impiety, or an authority 
clothed with the preogatives of the original lawgiver. In 
this latter exalted predicament the Savior claimed to stand ; 
' As the Father,' said he, ' hath life in himself, so hath he 
given to the Son, to have life in himself; and hath given 
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the 
Son of man.' ' All things are delivered unto me of my 
Father. 5 In the exercise of his legal supremacy, he may 
be said to have revised the laws of heaven. Not only 



HIS AUTHORITY. 73 

did he put on them his own authoritative interpretation, from 
which he permits no appeal, and by which he greatly 
extended the sphere of their jurisdiction, in bestowing 
forgiveness, he even controlled and suspended their opera- 
tion ; he pronounced what part of the divine code was of 
perpetual, and what of temporary obligation ; he repealed 
its positive enactments, and enjoined others ; while, by 
laying open the scenes of the final judgment, and speaking 
as from the mysterious cross, he placed it on another basis, 
infused into it a new vigor, and augmented its force in the 
highest degree. 

When the sanctimonious pharisees, impatient to accuse 
him, but despairing of a charge, alleged against him the 
trivial act of his hungry disciples, in plucking the ears of 
corn on the sabbath day, he not only established the inno- 
cence of the deed, but with what an air of inimitable dig- 
nity did he cast over it the ample shield of his own pre- 
rogative ; ' the Son of man,' said he, is Lord even of the 
sabbath day.' On another occasion, when the same un- 
appeasable intolerance, and cloked hypocrisy, construed 
an act of healing into a breach of the sabbath, he again 
asserted his superiority to "the law. But, beyond this, he 
expounded his right to that superiority ; he declared, that 
as the operations of the Father knew no intermission, so 
neither did his ; that as the machinery of Providence does 
not pause in deference to the sabbatic law, but continues, 
through every moment of time, to fill the universe with 
its agency, so he acknowledged no restraint, but claimed 
the same unlimited scope, and infinite freedom of activity 
for his beneficence : thus clearly placing his own miracu- 
lous works on a level with the works of God ; demanding 
the same consideration for their character ; and assuming 
an equality, or rather an identity, with the Supreme, in 
will, and right, and power. ' My Father worketh until 



74 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

now, and I work. Whatsoever things the Father doeth, 
those things the Son also doeth in like manner.' But his 
dispensation with the law of the sabbath was only a speci- 
men of his supreme authority. By issuing the final and 
sovereign mandate to his disciples, ' Go into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature ;' he virtually 
annulled the Jewish ritual, and repealed a whole economy, 
casting it back among the things that were : while, by 
replacing it with ordinances of his own enactment, and sa- 
cred to his worship, he proclaimed himself the founder and 
legislator of a new religion. 

For the establishment of his religion, a display of mi- 
raculous power was necessary ; and, accordingly, he not 
only declared his ability and rights to control at pleasure 
the laws of nature, he placed those laws as he saw .fit, un- 
der the subjection of his apostles also. 'When he had 
called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power 
against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all 
manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. And these 
signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name shall 
they work miracles.' ■ And whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
name, that / will do.' 

The exercise of his "supremacy, in the instances we 
have cited, was accompanied by the most illustrious dis- 
plays of authority, in developing and enforcing the eter- 
nal and unchangeable laws of morality. The morality of 
the Mosaic code was of divine dictation ; but, in revising 
its statutes and giving it perfection, he introduces his new 
prescription with the preamble, ' Ye have heard that it 
was said to them of old time — but I say unto you ;' thus 
placing his own legislation on a footing with the authority 
of Sinai ; and, if not actually effacing the original tables, 
to make room for his own statutes, yet inserting and incor- 
porating these statutes at pleasure, and publishing them as a 



HIS AUTHORITY. 75 

part of the eternal law. How tender, yet inconcealable, the 
tone of authority in which he said to his disciples, when 
he was only a step from the cross, ' A new commandment 
give I unto you, that ye love one another.' To regard 
this as a mere republication, seems to impugn the modesty 
which distinguished his character, for it represents him as 
claiming originality and novelty for that which is only the 
revival of an obsolete law. But with that ancient precept 
which enjoined love to our neighbor, this new command 
has no affinity except in appearance ; it differs in its na- 
ture, its objects, and in the peculiar considerations by 
which it is enforced. That prescribes the love of benevo- 
lence ; this requires the love of complacency : that enjoins 
loving kindness, the love of the kind, of man as man ; this 
enjoins the love of character, of virtue, of man as chris- 
tian ; while its claim to novelty is completed by the divine 
Legislator proposing his own example, as the model and 
motive to obedience. But that which displays his superi- 
ority to all human, all merely delegated authority, and 
which places him on a level with the Supreme Power is, 
that having enacted laws, he can ensure obedience. The 
highest praise of an earthly lawgiver, is to adapt his laws 
as nearly as possible to the claims of abstract right, on the 
one hand ; and to the peculiar state of the people receiving 
them, on the other. He can do little more to promote 
obedience to them, than by publicly chastising the refrac- 
tory and disobedient. But the great Prophet and Law- 
giver of the christian church, having consulted our nature 
in the requirements he makes, can then conform our na- 
ture to his authority ; having authoritatively announced 
his will, he can carry into all the recesses of the soul, and, 
in perfect harmony with our free volitions, can so iden- 
tify it with our thoughts and aims, so blend it with the 
stream and current of our consciousness, that in yielding 



76 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

obedience to his word, we are only obeying the actings and 
impulses of our own minds. Hence the language of con- 
scious authority, and efficient power, which he employed 
in relation to the conversion of the Gentiles : ' Other sheep 
I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring 
and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold 
and one shepherd.' Hence too, he could say to whom he 
chose, ' Follow me ;' and the individual addressed * arose 
and followed him.' At this disenchanting command, the 
spirit of the world fled from the heart ; the thousand ties 
which bound it to the earth were snapped asunder ; and 
the man suddenly found himself emancipated, and walking 
in the Savior's train. The omnipotent effect with which 
he spoke to the tempestuous elements, and to demons more 
fierce and fearful than they, was only a type and pledge of 
his unlimited power over the mind of man. He speaks, 
and it is done ; his people are ' made willing in the day of 
his power.' 

But of all his displays of authority, his forgiveness of 
sin is immeasurably the greatest. This, according to hu- 
man conceptions, is the highest and uttermost prerogative 
of the Supreme. It is to ascend a throne above the law- 
giver, and to silence his voice, and suspend his functions, 
for a reason paramount to all law and more comprehen- 
sive. It is to overrule the claims of justice, and stopping 
it in its full career towards the sinner, to exhibit a reason 
for mercy, to which justice bows with reverence, and before 
which it retires. Law, the dictate of infinite wisdom, is 
the rule by which man is to act towards God ; but forgive- 
ness is a dispensation, a reason issuing from a deeper re- 
cess of his'mysterious nature, and by which he chooses to 
act towards us. But this prerogative, essentially divine, 
this high and incommunicable right, Jesus exercised, and 
vindicated his competence to do so. ' Son,' said he to the 



HIS AUTHORITY. 77 

paralytic man, 'be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven 
thee ; and, behold, some of the scribes said within them- 
selves, Why doth he thus speak blasphemies ? who can 
forgive sins but God alone? But Jesus knowing their 
thoughts, said, why do ye think evil in your hearts 1 For 
which is easier, to say, Thy sins are forgiven ; or to say, 
Arise and walk? But that ye may know the Son of man 
upon earth hath a right to forgive sins, (he saith to the 
paralytic,) Arise, take up thy couch, and go to thy house.' 
Thus, forestalling the functions of the last day, he remitted 
the claim of justice on a sinful being ; erased his guilt 
from the book of God ; changed the relations of an ac- 
countable creature to the Supreme Governor ; and, in effect 
asserted that he possessed the power of taking from the 
inmost soul the sting of conscious guilt. While, by de-. 
daring that he retained this power, though he was then 
the Son, of man upon earth, he carries our thoughts to the 
state whence he had descended, and reminds us that no dis- 
tance from his throne above, no depth of humiliation to 
which he might condescend, can deprive him of his right 
to pardon; that as it is exclusively, so it is inalienably di- 
vine ; and that therefore he is free to use it as God, though 
for a time he may choose to rank as the Son of man. 

Preceding prophets, jealous for the divine honor, had 
scrupulously guarded against the remotest suspicion that 
they spake in their own name ; they distinctly confessed 
their delegated capacity, and perpetually appealed to the 
authority which sent them. But Jesus, we have seen, 
without any modification or reserve, employed the lan- 
guage of supreme personal authority. He did not, indeed, 
in any way impart the impression of an interest, or even 
an existence, detached from the Father. The authority 
by which he spoke, though expressly his own, was, by iden- 
tity of nature, the authority of the Father also. As often 



78 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

as he exercised the functions of the legislator, he placed 
himself, if I may say so, on a level, and in a line, with the 
eternal throne ; so that its glory fell directly upon him, 
and hy him was again reflected back, mingled with the 
lustre of his own greatness. While he stood forth dis- 
tinctly in his own personality, and addressed us in his own 
name, he stood in so perfect a conjunction with the Deity, 
and so far within the borders of the encircling light, that 
his voice came with the authority of an oracle from the 
central glory. ' Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may 
glorify thee. I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. 
No man knoweth the Father but the Son, neither know- 
eth any man the Son but the Father. Whatsoever things 
the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. He 
that hath seen me hath seen the Father also. I and my 
Father are one.' 

In closing our illustrations of the authority of the Savior's 
teaching, it may not be irrelevant briefly to remark, that 
not only was that authority exempt from those deductions 
to which the force of mere human instruction is liable, but 
that it must have been greatly augmented by every consid- 
eration of an opposite kind. 

Nothing can be imagined more fatal to the power of a 
public teacher, than a lurking suspicion, a secret misgiv- 
ing of the truth, the value or consistency of his doctrine. 
In such a case, the mind may be said to have lost its pow- 
er of projection, its professed aim will not be reached. Any 
thing short of full conviction will betray itself to his audi- 
ence, in a way inviting their suspicion, and creating disbe- 
lief. Equally unfriendly to the weight of his instructions, 
is a conscious inability to refer them to those first princi- 
ples from which they derive their authority ; a want of 
cordial sympathy with their practical influence ; a sense 
of discordance between that influence and his present con- 



HIS AUTHORITY. 79 

duct ; a painful uncertainty concerning their success ; or, 
lastly, a doubt of his own eligibility and right to the office 
of teacher. 

Now, not merely was the Savior exempt, by necessity of 
nature, from each of these foes to authoritative teaching ; 
the mount, from which he sometimes taught, was only an 
emblem of the moral elevation on which he always stood, 
where every thing was present to augment the pervading 
power of his preaching, and from whence he spoke with 
an authority exclusively his own. To convince the incre- 
dulity of others that he came from God, he often referred 
to his being heralded by John ; to his announcement by 
the voice from the excellent glory ; and to his affluence in 
divine qualifications and miraculous powers. For himself, 
he could not have felt a stronger assurance of the fact, had 
all the heirarchies and state of heaven, constantly and vis- 
ibly stood around him, an amphitheatre of living glory, to 
corroborate his mission, and authenticate every sentence he 
uttered. 

So perfect was his example, that had it been possible for 
the least inconsistency to have existed between his instruc- 
tions and his life, we should, without hesitation, have 
sought the defect in his teaching. But such a discrepancy 
was impossible. In every precept he taught, he felt that 
he was only expounding his own life, reading from the 
holy volume of his own heart. Virtue found itself re- 
assured in his presence ; and, having imbibed courage and 
strength from his looks, went to complete the conquest of 
sin. Instead of pointing his hearers to the tables of stone, 
he could invite them to learn of him ; and the holy law 
rejoiced the while in its living representative. He could 
look round on a nation of witnesses, and say, ' Which 
of you convicteth me of sin ? ' with the certainty that the 
challenge could not be accepted. But what amazing 



80 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

weight must this consideration have lent to his instructions, 
what power to his rebukes; what authority and force to his 
commands! Truth never languished on his lips, never 
suffered in his hands, from want of sympathy in its advo- 
cate. ' To this end was IbOrn,' said he, 'and for this. 
cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness. UntO; . 
the truth.' And as often as it issued from his tori^uef it f. 
came with the freshness of. a new revelation ; was a«nduh-.> 
ced with an earnestness commensurate with its intrinsic 
importance, and with the momentous results depending on 
its success ; and was defended with the devotedness and 
zeal of a champion prepared to die in its behalf. 

Such is the present limitation of our knowledge, and our 
constant liability to err, that diffidence in the announcement 
of our opinions is accounted a virtue. But he, who came 
forth from God to be the light of the world, spoke on eve- 
ry subject with the unfaltering assurance of certain knowl- 
edge. To him, truth, all truth was, in a sense, ever pres- 
ent and self-evident. Properly speaking, he uttered no 
mere sentiments, notions, or opinions, but only truths. He 
did not speak on probability and credit ; his assertions 
were sustained on ultimate principles and personal knowl- 
edge. He saw intuitively, that whatever was opposed to 
his doctrine, however plausible as conjecture, or deeply 
rooted in the popular faith, was delusion and falsehood. 
* Every one that is of the truth, 5 said he, ' heareth my voice.' 
And not only was he assured of the particular doctrine, he 
was perfectly acquainted with the general principle whence 
it drew its authority, and with the unchangeable position 
that principle holds in the system of universal truth. Hav- 
ing stood in the counsel of God, having dwelt in the pen- 
etralia, the innermost recesses of the eternal sanctuary, 
the elements and originals of all- truth were familiarly 
present to his mind. Of his sublimest supernatural dis- 



HIS AUTHORITY. 81 

closures he averred, that he was speaking that which he 
knew, and testifying that which he had seen. He came 
forth from the bosom of the Father, as the Word, the Re- 
vealer of that infinite mind in which, from eternity, he 
had surveyed the archetype and idea of all truth ; and he 
spoke with the authority of a divine oracle. 

But, besides the consciousness that he was the Word 
and the Wisdom, of God, his discourses must have derived 
an accession of power from the knowledge that he was 
unfolding truth of the highest order — the words of eternal 
life. Science of all kinds is distinction and power ; and 
he who imparts it is a benefactor to his species : but the 
knowledge which Jesus came to unfold was emphatically 
the gospel ; truth which God deems important, which had 
been revolved from eternity in his infinite mind, which 
enters into his purposes and involves his glory ; a revela- 
tion so essential to our well-being, and every way so mo- 
mentous, that it not only disdains comparison with the dis- 
coveries of man, but engrossing to itself the undivided at- 
tention of the only begotten Son of God, would have held 
its majesty debased had it been mingled, even on his hal- 
lowed lips, with the meaner topics of human science. His 
mission contemplated our race, as immortal beings labor- 
ing under the frown of incensed justice ; and standing ig- 
norant, helpless, and exposed, on the verge of a gulf of 
irretrievable ruin. Alive to all the horrors of our condi- 
tion, he came with the message and means of deliverance ; 
he brought from heaven an express assurance of complete 
relief. Other knowledge may be acquired by ordinary 
means, its worth maybe computed, it may be dispensed with 
altogether ; but the way of salvation could only be made 
known by God himself: while its utter indispensableness 
and infinite value appear from the fact, that we must have 
it or perish. ' I am come,' said Christ, * a light into the 

5 



82 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

world ; ' and, as he ascended the firmament of truth, he 
shone with the sublime consciousness, that, were he to with- 
draw his beams and retire, the world would be immersed 
in eternal night ; but that as many as should walk in his 
light, would be brought from the darkness and distance of 
sin, into the immediate vision and fruition of God. He 
could stand forth and challenge the profound attention of 
the world, with the full conviction that he was not only the 
greatest benefactor it would ever behold, but that he com- 
bined within himself all the several qualities of beneficence 
to be found in the universe ; for he felt that, in imparting 
the gospel, he was pouring out the resources of heaven, 
and conferring an antidote for the miseries of mankind. 

Add to this, the Son of God was perfectly exempt from 
the chilling perception that his motives were alloyed. It 
was peculiar to him, of all born of women, to be entirely 
free from the taint of selfishness. • He pleased not him- 
self The whole of his course was a history of pure dis- 
interested benevolence. He had assumed our nature for 
no other purpose than to display the glory of God in the 
happiness of man ; and for this end he breathed out his 
life. When uttering his largest professions of sympathy 
and love, he rejoiced in the secret consciousness that he 
intended to do abundantly more than he had said ; that, 
besides the stream of goodness and truth which issued 
daily from his lips, he held within his heart a fountain of 
compassion, clear as crystal, as yet untouched ; but which, 
at the appointed hour, would issue forth, far exceeding ex- 
pectation, and blessing the world. 

And beyond all this, what must have imparted vigor to 
the tone of his teaching, was the unclouded prospect which 
he enjoyed of its ultimate and universal success. ' This 
gospel,' he could say, ' shall be preached for a witness 
among all nations. 1 In its immediate results, indeed, it 



HIS AUTHORITY. 83 

but too fully realized the representation of the sower, that 
went forth to sow. But he clearly foresaw that the incor" 
ruptible seed of his word, though for a time it might seem 
to be lost, was destined again to spring out of the earth, 
producing a harvest of holiness for heaven. In praying 
that his church might be sanctified by the truth, he felt 
that he was praying with the force of an almighty decree ; 
that, in the divine intention, his prayer was answered as 
soon as uttered ; while he beheld, in anticipation, a host 
which no one could number, already encircling the throne 
above, robed in the purity his prayer desired. A part of 
the joy which was set before him, consisted in the distinct 
perception of a scene, in which his truth, armed with the 
Omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, having completed the 
conquest of error, given law to the world, and impressed 
her image on every thing human, was receiving the hom- 
age of a renovated race, and reigning in the new heavens, 
and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

Recollecting that causes such as these concurred in the 
teaching of the Son of God, and bearing in mind the speci- 
mens we have adduced from his divine discourses, we are 
fully prepared to hear it testified, that ' the people were as- 
tonished at his doctrine ;' and that, • when Jesus had end- 
ed these sayings, the people were astonished at his doc- 
trine ; for he taught them as one having authority, and not 
as the scribes.' Their established teachers, having long 
since completed the conquest of common sense, labored to 
preserve the fruits of their victory, by the endless repetition 
of fables and childish traditions. The loftiest models of 
public instruction with which they were acquainted, con- 
sisted in the heartless recitement of frivolous opinions 
and trivial ceremonies, confirmed by quotations more je- 
june and frivolous still; the very essence of insipidity. 
What then must have been the astonishment and involun- 



84 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tary homage with which they listened to the discourses of 
the Son of God. It was an era in the history of their 
minds. In their opinion, he spake as never man spake. 
For, besides that he addressed them in his own name, as 
the highest authority, he laid open scenes the most novel, 
and subjects the most momentous ; carried his appeals into 
their conscience ; made them once more feel that they were 
immortal men ; stripped off every mask, and conveyed 
them, with their sins upon them, to the throne of God ; 
annihilated the distance between them and the judgment 
day ; placed them on the threshold of the infinite and ev- 
erlasting ; and effaced the recollections of the present, by 
the absorbing realities of the eternal future. Some hailed 
his preaching as a new and glorious light, while others 
shunned it as the forked and fatal lightning ; each class 
bearing involuntary testimony to its commanding power. 
And, associated, as it naturally would be in their minds, 
with the recollection of his miraculous deeds ; remember- 
ing that the demons had quailed, and the tempestuous 
ocean grown quiet in the presence in which they were 
standing ; that the whirlwind had revered the voice to 
which they were listening ; they could not but tacitly con- 
fess that he spoke with an authority which, if the sun were 
extinguished, might say, < Let there be light,' and light 
would be. 

In concluding an essay, already, I fear, too much pro- 
longed, the reader will allow me to suggest its practical 
application. Whatever may be the characteristics of a 
perfect instructor, he is entitled to look for the counterpart 
of each in those he addresses. The authority, then, which 
distinguishes the teaching of Christ should be met, by his 
disciples, with submission and acquiescence. It is obvious 
to all, that the mental impression received from any object, 
depends materially on the state of the mind itself. ' If any 



HIS AUTHORITY. 85 

man will do the will of God,' said Jesus, ' lie shall know 
of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak 
of myself His gospel is addressed to our moral nature ; 
and the only mind in a state to do justice to the divinity of 
its claims, is that which is trained and disciplined to habits 
of holy obedience. If we take to it a spirit which it does 
not approve, we are likely to bring from it a spirit which 
it has not imparted. Even the ancient heathens, when 
they went to consult their idol gods, did not expect to suc- 
ceed without due preparation. Their approaches were 
marked by acts of reverence and self-purification. Before 
they hoped for the least oracular intimation, days were 
consumed in sacrifice, ablution, and mediation. They did 
not degrade even their false deities, by supposing they 
would speak in the ear of levity, or waste instruction on 
an irreverent and polluted mind. Were we creatures de- 
void of a moral nature, or did the gospel address the un- 
derstanding alone, we might then approach it as we go to 
the study of a mathematical truth, as beings of intellect 
only ; but its aim is the heart ; it is addressed to our moral 
nature ; and as such, it claims a free and undisputed in- 
gress to the throne of the will. If it flattered our import- 
ance by submitting its truths to the tribunal of reason, 
pride would then be no unsuitable preparation for receiv- 
ing it ; but, taking for granted our moral disqualification, 
it ' casts down imaginations, and every high thing that ex- 
alteth itself against the knowledge of God, and brings into 
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' Pro- 
ceeding on the supposition, that it is the heart which in its 
fall has dragged down the faculties of the soul, it proposes 
to erect them again, by raising and restoring the degrading 
cause ; it requires, therefore, that in the process they be 
submissive and silent. If we would learn of Christ, the 
soul must be vacated of all its proud prepossessions, that 



86 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

there may be room to prepare him a seat in the will. If 
we would listen to his voice with effect, there must be si- 
lence in the soul : the clamorous pretensions of self-suffi- 
ciency must be rebuked ; and putting on the robe of hu- 
mility, we must take our station as children at his feet. 
~13ut that submission to the authority of Christ, which 
forms an essential qualification in his disciples, is not only 
opposed to the pride that rejects ; it is intelligent and con- 
scious, and therefore equally remote from that unheeding ac- 
quiescence which admits with a fatal facility, and as a mat- 
ter of custom and course, whatever he inculcates : if the 
former of these is the disqualification of rebellion, the lat- 
ter is the incapacity of death. Perhaps no greater ob- 
" stacle can be named, to the proper reception of the gospel, 
than the error, alas ! how common, of placing religion in 
a bare assent to its truths ; of cherishing a settled and sat- 
isfied persuasion that Ave are christians, simply because we 
subscribe, and in proportion to the unthinking readiness 
with which we subscribe, to its dictates. So effectually 
does this delusion enclose and encase the heart, that ' the 
arrows of the Lord,' though barbed and winged by an an- 
gel's hand, would fail to ' stick fast in it.' So potent is the 
spell, that it enables us to listen, not only to truths the most 
pungent, but even to the description which pourtrays the 
very delusion itself, without any self-application or effect. 
With such certainty does it turn aside and ward off every 
salutary impression, that like a building defended from the 
lightnings of heaven by a rod of steel, we can venture 
amongst the forked lightnings of the truth, and yet come 
out from them free, unscathed, and untouched. On such 
a state of mind, the voice of the Great Teacher himself—- 
its loudest, its most solemn and authoritative tones — are 
dissipated and lost. 

The submission, then, which he demands, is that which 



HIS AUTHORITY. 87 

arises from conviction, and consists in the self-surrender of 
the will ; that which, while it admits, at the same time 
' trembles at his word.' But where is this preparation to 
be obtained? where, but at the throne of the heavenly 
grace. It is only at the altar, and from the hand of God, 
we can receive that celestial torch, which reveals at once 
our own incompetence, and the dignity and glory of Christ. 
That is the appointed place of meeting between God and 
the soul, where he puts us under the guidance of that holy 
spirit, who leads us into all truth : who takes the things of 
Christ as they fall from his lips, and conveys them as liv- 
ing powers into the obedient heart: who prepares and de- 
livers us into the mould of the gospel, that we may take 
the perfect impress of its author. 



ESSAY II. 
ON THE ORIGINALITY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 



SECTION I. OF GOD THE FATHER. 



'Never man spake like this man.' 
' No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son wil 

reveal him.' 



In illustrating the originality which marked the instruc 
tions of our blessed lord, it can scarcely be necessary to 
premise, that, as the mode of his teaching will receive our 
separate consideration, we shall now confine ourselves to 
its subjects. 

Were we claiming the attribute of originality for an un- 
inspired mind, we should feel as if we were establishing 
his right to fame. For he who enlarges, in the least, the 
narrow confines of human knowledge, is said to confer 
imperishable wealth ; to redeem our mental character ; 
and thus, owing to the unfrequency of the occurrence, he 
renders himself an object of homage to the species. But 
this is a quality, which, abstractedly considered, has no 
moral character ; it is a blessing or a curse, only accord- 
ing to the direction which it takes, and the service in which 
it is engaged. 

As the ultimate object of our Lord's teaching, was of a 
nature entirely practical, it requires but little effort of the 
imagination to conceive why, if his praise consists, partly, 
in being so original, it consists also, partly, in not being 
more original than he is. ' If I have told you earthly 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 89 

things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you 
heavenly things ? ' He could unquestionably have made 
disclosures which would have eclipsed, and consigned to 
oblivion all prior discoveries. As far as power is concern- 
ed, he could easily have embroiled the polemic world, by 
mystifying without misrepresenting, every subject of earthly 
dispute. He could have uttered a single sentence, which, 
by furnishing a key to many a mystery, and affording a 
glimpse of arcana before unknown, would have collected 
and concentrated around it the busy thoughts of each suc- 
cessive generation to the close of time. Opening one of 
the numerous doors at which human curiosity has been 
knocking impatiently for ages, he could have admitted men 
to a tree of knowledge, from which, age after age, they 
would have continued to pluck and partake, until the trump 
of God surprised them at their unholy feast, and found 
them unprepared for the summons. But he came to plant 
for them the tree of life, and to give them access to its heal- 
ing fruits. And as he allowed nothing to divert his own 
attention from the accomplishment of this object, he guard- 
ed against every thing likely to beguile them from seeking 
the benefit resulting from it. He disdained not the repeti- 
tion of old and familiar truths, provided his introduction of 
them would subserve his grand design ; for though he pro- 
posed to erect a second temple of truth, the glory of which 
should eclipse the splendor of the first, he deigned to ap- 
propriate whatever of the ancient materials remained 
available. Truths, which the lapse of time had seen dis- 
placed and disconnected from their true position, as stars 
are said to have wandered from their primal signs, he re- 
called and established anew ; and principles, which had 
faded, disappeared, and been lost, as stars are said to have 
become extinct, he re-kindled and re-sphered, and com- 
manded them to stand fast forever. Such, for instance, was 



90 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the golden law of wedded love ; which though coeval with 
paradise, and the crown of its joys, had been partially re- 
mitted by divine sufferance, and reduced to a name by hu- 
man depravity, but which he restored and republished as 
of divine and indissoluble obligation. 

The power of recasting important truths from their old 
and worn-out forms, and of giving them to the world again 
with all their original freshness and force, is the peculiar 
prerogative of genius ; but though our Lord must be sup- 
posed to have possessed this power in perfection, he did not 
exercise it for its own sake. An acquaintance with the 
origin of some of his parables, his prayers, and many of 
his most familiar sayings, will show that he often conde- 
scended to adopt the beauties of the Talmud, which were 
then ' floating on the lips of the wise,' as well as the pop- 
ular proverbs of the day, and to insert them into his own 
instructions. But this by no means impairs his claim to 
originality of the loftiest kind. Intellect of the highest 
earthly order, though aware that its claims to renown de- 
pended chiefly on the exercise of its own creative powers, 
has not feared the forfeiture of those claims for borrowing 
the productions of inferior minds : it was conscious of a 
power of falling back, at pleasure, on its own resources, 
and of being ably sustained. Then how much more might 
he do the same ; He, to whom all human thought is but 
one idea ; and that only a fractional part of the infinite 
whole which his mind comprehends. He, who in his 
pre-existent state, had not refused to predicate of his divine 
nature the parts and passions of poor humanity, though at 
the hazard of materializing his pure spirituality in the 
crude conceptions of human ignorance ; He, who had pro- 
ceeded even to assume that humanity, the mere figurative 
assumption of which was an infinite condescension, might 
surely be spared the necessity of a defence, for the occa- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 91 

sional appropriation of human thoughts. If his assump- 
tion of our nature was an infinite stoop of grace demand- 
ing our adoration, his adoption of any of our thoughts 
(though not to he named as a comparison) was only an ad- 
junct and continuation of that grace. 

Besides, this probably is only to be regarded as one of 
the numerous methods by which he was constantly aiming 
to lessen the impression which must have frequently re- 
turned on his hearers — as far as that impression was like- 
ly to interfere with his usefulness — of his mysterious and 
incomprehensible character. He knew with a perfection 
of knowledge, that as the great and beneficent operations 
of nature are produced, not by abrupt and extraordinary 
interpositions, but by the calm and regular movements of 
its appointed laws ; so, ordinarily, a method of instruction 
which violates the sanctuary of our settled associations, 
though it may startle, and astonish, and even fill with won- 
der for the moment, is far from friendly to the lasting con- 
viction and future improvement of the mind ; and, there- 
fore, he disturbed their accustomed trains of thought as 
little as was consistent with the introduction of a renovat- 
ing power, a new and transforming economy of truth. He 
sought access to their minds, by the beaten pathway of 
their most familiar associations ; he insinuated and inter- 
twined his divine instruction with the net-work of their 
most hallowed recollections and sympathies; thus provid- 
ing for it the easiest mode of admission into their hearts, 
and making them feel that his identification with their na- 
ture and interest was complete. But, at the same time, 
whatever of their most popular and admired lore he con- 
descended to employ, he gave them an opportunity of mark- 
ing his superiority to the most approved and honored of 
their rabbinical teachers ; for, however great its original 
excellences might have been considered, it came from his 






92 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

hands beautified with a simplicity, dignified with a power, 
and invested with attractions, unknown to it before. 

In order that he might obtain admission through the 
common avenue of our sympathies, and build himself a 

l home in our hearts, he drew his images and illustrations 
from the great treasury of our household affections, and 
from the most familiar features of nature. But the. lily of 
the field, as plucked by his hand, has the freshness of the 
morning, and the dew upon it ; and the homeliest fact, as 
unfolded by him, is found to contain the most treasured 
truths. Thus, by deriving his illustrations from humble 
sources, he not only avoided taking our feelings by surprise, 
he showed us how all unperverted knowledge tends towards 
heaven by a law, and how all unsophisticated nature, right- 
ly construed, is only an expanded page of holy writ ; how 
every part of Eden and of earth must have teemed, and 
been vocal, with wisdom to the attentive ear of unfallen 
man ; and how, to tbe mind which mirrors and reflects the 
lines and aspects of nature, truth may still be said to spring 
out of the earth. 

But, though we could not have passed entirely unnoticed 

z the circumstantial originality of the Savior's teaching, it is 
time to show that his claim to this quality arises from mer- 
its peculiarly his own ; from additional revelations, and 
momentous disclosures of divine truth. Had he only 
commented on the volume of nature, had he even read 
from the book of the universe the names and titles of its 
author, our advantage comparatively would have been 
small indeed. That volume was originally meant only for 
the eye of sinless humanity. It uttered no prediction, 
awoke no presentiment of the fall ; in no part of its hal- 
lowed contents could a line be found foretokening woe. 
The morning of the day of transgression dawned on the 
world, unconscious of the impending change. The sun 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 93 

poured forth as full a flood of living light ; the air was as 
rich in fragrance and song ; earth and heaven appeared to 
live in each other's smiles ; nature lay open at as fair and 
bright a page, as at the moment when God complacently- 
pronounced it to be very good. The tremendous catastrophe 
of that day took it by surprise. So far from furnishing man 
with resources for the event, it was itself involved in the 
calamity ; it was ' cursed for his sake.' So far from being 
able to utter a consolatory truth in human ears, it required 
itself to be solaced and sustained, for it lay prostrate and 
panting under its Maker's frown. Wounded by the stroke, 
and cumbered with the weight of sin, it sent forth a cry, 
in which all its natural harmonies were drowned ; a cry 
of helplessness and of suffering, which has never from 
that moment ceased, but which has gone on from age to 
age, waxing louder and louder, till the whole creation has 
become vocal with woe, • and groaneth and travaileth in 
pain together until now,' laboring in its pangs and strug- 
gling to be free. 

So far from showing commiseration, and whispering 
hope, there is a sense in which all nature stands ready to 
avenge the quarrel of God with man. Take as examples, 
the histories of Pharaoh and Herod. When the former 
refused to obey the mandates of heaven, all nature express- 
ed its sympathy with its injured Maker ; armed in his be- 
half, and put itself in motion to avenge the insult. The 
latter, affecting to be thought a god, forthwith an angel, jeal- 
ous of Jehovah's honor, descends and smites him; and, at 
the same moment, the meanest insects begin to devour him : 
the highest order of created intelligence, and the lowest 
form of animal existence, the two extremes in the scale of 
creation, unite to prostrate and punish his impiety. It will 
be found, in the history of the divine justice, that every 
element of nature has taken its turn, as a minister of wrath, 



94 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

to assert the quarrel of God with rebellious man. And, 
be it remembered, that one of these elements is held in re- 
serve for the destruction of the world ; he has only to 
speak, and it will wrap the globe in living flames. Mean- 
while, he may be said to have laid all nature under a solemn 
interdict, not to minister to our most pressing wants ; he 
has laid it under an eternal ban. Let there be no peace 
to the wicked, saith my God ; let everything be at war with 
him. If he will be the enemy of God, let him live and 
die amidst a universe of frowns : let every thing in heav- 
en, earth, and hell, be armed, and ready to assail him : let 
there.be no peace to the wicked ; and universal nature re- 
sponds, there shall be none ; and the universal experience 
of sinners, as it sends up its reply from the bottomless pit 
declares, in accents of terrible despair, there is none. Could 
the sinner but open his eyes to the dreadful reality of his 
condition, were he endowed with the power of vision like 
the servant of the prophet, he would find himself surround- 
ed, not indeed with horses and chariots of fire to guard 
him, but with terrible forms of anger and destruction, wait- 
ing to dart on him, and make him their prey. He would 
find himself standing in the great theatre of the universe, 
with every eye that it contains fixed and frowning upon 
him ; with every weapon in the infinite armory of God, 
ready, and levelled against him. And the hour arrives 
when he finds that sin has arrayed against him, not only all 
the universe without, but all the powers and passions with- 
in him ; that it has armed him against himself; that it has 
given a sting to every thought, and turned his conscience 
into a worm that diethnot, and his depraved and ungovern- 
ed passions into fires never to be quenched. 

O how unparalleled the infatuation of the man who pre- 
tends, that from the doubtful and scattered intimations of 
nature, he can collect the materials of a sufficient creed ; 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 95 

when, at the same time, they are so obviously intermixed 
with the fragments of a violated law. Nature, indeed, is 
still an oracle on one point ; and when consulted on that 
point, which relates to the great remedy for sin, her spon- 
taneous response is, it is not in me : it is not until man has 
examined her by torture, that he extorts some doubtful re- 
ply, which— his vanity being made the interpreter — is 
found to coincide with his wishes, and to flatter his pride. 
On the fact of the divine existence, indeed, the protestations 
of nature are positive, loud and unceasing; this is a truth 
of which she is never making less than solemn affirmation 
and oath, with all her myriad voices ; the unintermitting 
response of the living creatures heard by John, is only 
the echo of her voice in the sanctuary above, proclaiming 
to the universe his eternal power and Godhead. But, how- 
ever able and ready to enlighten the inquiring mind on 
the fact of his existence, she could do nothing to dissipate 
the clouds of doubt and gloom which had gathered and 
settled into thick darkness round about his throne : on the 
anxious subject of his character, and his possible conduct 
towards the guilty, she has received no instructions and is 
silent. By the introduction of sin, our condition has be- 
come preternatural, and the wisdom that prescribes for us, 
therefore, must be supernatural, or it will prove a physic- 
ian of no value. 

I. Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, came to 
be the light of the world ; and one of the topics on which 
he most delighted to expatiate and dwell, was the paternal 
character and universal benevolence of God. This, in the 
form in which it came from his hands, was an original sub- 
ject, a new gift to the world. 

Hear his own emphatic representations ; ' righteous 
Father, the world hath not known thee.' * No man know- 



96 THB GREAT TEACHER. 

eth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the 
Son will reveal him.' ' I have manifested thy name un- 
to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.' Such 
are the unequivocal terms in which he declares, that, at 
the time he spoke, the world was destitute of the knowl- 
edge of God ; that this inestimable knowledge was his 
own peculiar gift, the chief treasure which he had brought 
into the world ; that the impartation of it was in his high 
prerogative alone ; and that, in the sovereign exercise of 
that prerogative, he had given it to his disciples, by them to 
to be communicated to the world at large. 

Nor does this statement require any qualification, from the 
fact that God had before spoken to man, ' t sundry times, 
and in divers manners.' Without any unjust depreciation 
of the Jewish institute, it may be boldly affirmed, that it 
gave but a faint and partial representation of the divine 
character. What must have been the views of God enter- 
tained by Solomon, who, though he had been employed to 
build the temple of Jehovah, could forsake that very tem- 
ple for an idol's grove ? What must have been the god of 
the prophet Jonah, when he attempted to flee from his pre- 
sence, and pettishly charged him with fickleness of purpose 
for not involving Nineveh in destruction ? It is, indeed, im- 
possible to state the precise amount of the knowledge of 
God which is essential to salvation ; but there is reason to 
conclude that, considering the peculiar advantages of the 
Mosaic economy, that knowledge was generally at its min- 
imum in Judea. It is more than probable, that when those 
prophetic intimations were first uttered, which contain 
most hope for man, and which we are accustomed to admire 
as splendid anticipations of the gospel, and worthy the me- 
ridian of the christian church, they were either dismissed 
by their hearers as unintelligible, or understood with so 
great a reserve in favor of Judea, as virtually to annul the 



HIS ORGINALITT. 97 

prophesy. Besides, between such enlarged representations, 
and the restrictive spirit of their economy, a conflict must 
necessarily have ensued, which could not fail to end in fa- 
vor of the latter. And, when in addition to this, it is re- 
membered, — that the whole of their law had become rab- 
binized and overlaid with traditions ; that, notwithstanding 
their sacrificial types, the doctrine of pardon procured by 
a vicarious expiation, was ' to the Jews a stumbling block ;' 
that all that was supernatural in their temple worship had 
been long since recalled to heaven, and all that was spirit- 
ual suffered to depart ; that any of their moral duties were 
compounded for a pecuniary consideration ; that the only 
heaven they knew, was suspended, in their imagination, 
over the land of Judea ; and that they were actually jeal- 
ous of the Divine being, lest he should take within the pale 
of salvation, any part of the gentile world, — it will be ad- 
mitted that, of such a people, it would be difficult to under- 
rate their acquaintance with the divine character. 

As to the state of the heathen world, it is only necessary 
to quote the declaration of the apostle — that it knew not 
God. In Greece, where the dialectic philosophy saw its 
proudest days ; at Athens, where it was enthroned, its last 
effort was to rear an altar to the unknown God. At Rome, 
the asylum of deposed and fugitive gods, the pantheon of 
the world, the genius of Cicero, though it towered above 
his age, could add nothing to the religious knowledge of 
that age; could only speak vaguely of a numen aliquod 
prastantissimce mentis. From the moment that philoso- 
phy touched its meridian in the hands of Socrates, Plato, 
and Aristotle, it began to decline. Reason, as if blinded 
by excess of light, submitted to be led by any who assumed 
the office of a guide: revenged herself for the prodigious 
effort to which she had been tasked, by abandoning herself 
to the sorcery of the senses. Truth was pronounced un- 

6 



98 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

attainable ; virtue, impracticable ; the temples of religion 
were ceded to vice, who found herself consecrated and en- 
shrined in their inmost recesses ; while the phantom of 
happiness, (for the reality had departed with its sister fugi- 
tives, virtue, and truth,) was chased under a thousand forms 
and names ; till the world, having applied its fevered lips 
to the poisoned chalice of Epicurus, concluded, in their 
intoxication, that they had found it in the sensual form of 
unbridled pleasure. 

By one class, the idea of a Deity was discarded as a base- 
less figment of the fancy ; by another, he was multiplied 
into ' lords many, and gods many,' the patrons of as many 
vices ; and, by a third, his throne was removed to a dis- 
tance, which relieved the world of his presence, and eased 
him of the cares of active government. This was un- 
questionably the creed of the majority ; for it had this ir- 
resistible recommendation, that, by admitting his existence, 
it preserved the mask of religion, while, by transferring 
his seat to some unknown region in the outskirts of the 
creation, it saved them the practical inconvenience of re- 
garding his character or consulting his will. They per- 
suaded themselves, not only that his habitation was so im- 
measurably remote, but also that his dignity and felicity 
were so essentially dependent on undisturbed repose, that 
the character and condition of human beings never shared 
for a moment his divine regards. This was courteously 
deposing, and complimentally dismissing the god of their 
creed beyond the circle of their society. This was ' athe- 
ism with a god.' This was attaining the completion of 
their misery and guilt. For, by this virtual annihilation 
of the Divine Being, they destroyed every adequate re- 
straint on vice, every encouragement to virtue, and every 
ground of substantial consolation to distress. The vicious 
might sin on, without dreading his frown; the virtuous 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 99 

might sacrifice life itself in the pursuit of improvement, 
without hoping to obtain his smile; and had all the suffer- 
ers which the world contained sent up one united groan, 
one concentrated cry for relief, they would only have been 
giving their breath to the winds. They had reduced them- 
selves to the blank and cheerless state of being ' without 
hope and without God in the world.' 

II. How different the view of his character and con- 
duct, presented to us by the hand of Christ ! Drawing aside 
the veil which concealed his glory from our eyes, it shows 
him in his high and holy place, not in a state of silence 
and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy, happy be- 
ings, and every one of them waiting to do his bidding ; 
not in a state of inactivity and moral indifference, but in 
active communication with every part of his vast domin- 
ions, through a numberless variety of channels ; not in a 
state of apathy, regardless of the world, and all its multi- 
plied concerns, but as actually stooping from his throne 
and bending towards it, listening to every sound it utters, 
observing the movements of every being it contains, and 
approving or condemning every action it exhibits ; it even 
shows him to us in the astonishing act of raising up the 
fallen and prostrate children of earth, and putting them in 
jjto the way of reaching his own abode. 

To exalt our conceptions of the greatness of the Deity, 
our divine Instructor describes him as reigning sole over 
all the universe of matter and mind; asserts the pure 
spirituality of his nature, which no material images can 
represent ; ascribes to him a power, to which easy and dif- 
ficult are terms alike unknown, for to him all things are 
possible ; and, raising him to an infinite height above the 
loftiest created intelligence, declares that he stands alone in 



very 



100 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

absolute, unapproachable perfection. To enlarge our views 
of his condescension and benevolence, he assembles the 
universal family of man, 'the just and the unjust,' and 
takes from each of the uncounted multitude a distinct at- 
testation ©f the divine goodness to himself in particular. 
He leads them abroad into the open fields of nature, and 
lo, on touching their eyes, he surprises them with the sight 
of the hand which upholds the world, employed in paint- 
ing the lily of the field, feeding the fowls of the air, and 
adjusting and succoring the descent of the falling sparrow. 
He appeals to every drop of rain, and to every ray of light 
shed on an unthankful world ; and they confirm his testi- 
mony to the supreme goodness. 

But he informs his disciples that the amount of divine 
attention bestowed on any given object, is proportioned to 
the rank which that object occupies in the scale of crea- 
tion. If the grass of the field, then, share so much of the 
divine attention, can we form exaggerated ideas of the re- 
gard which he bestows on man ? Having thus prepared 
his disciples to see greater things than these, he conducts 
them into a higher department of truth. He lays open to 
their inspection the volume of providence, and turning to 
the name of each one in succession, shows him that in 
that volume each has a page ; that he has never been ab- 
sent from the mind of God; that the page assigned to him 
contains every particular of his history, even to the num- 
bered hairs of his head. 



III. From this department of truth he leads us into a 
higher region still ; for, having elated our hopes by the 
minuteness of the divine attention to our temporal condi- 
tion, he has prepared us to look for a far more astonishing 
display of divine munificence towards us, as his spiritual 
offspring. Having already shown us the liberality of his 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 101 

hand, he encourages us to approach and take a nearer 
view of his character, to look into his heart. We begin 
to enter into the spirit of the exercise, to feel our hope 
taking confidence, and our anticipations growing sanguine ; 
we become conscious that we must give scope and wing to 
our expectation, and urge it to its utmost flight, to do any 
thing like justice to the occasion. But who shall antici- 
pate the gifts of infinite love? 

' God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting' life.' Though sin had for ages dis- 
turbed the equable flow of the divine benevolence to man, 
that benevolence had never, for a moment, ceased to accu- 
mulate, or lost its earthward direction. Through every 
hour, of every age, it had continued to increase ; and was 
only restrained till a suitable channel was ready, and the 
world prepared to receive it. And now, when the fulness 
of time was come, the windows of heaven, the heart of 
Deity itself, was opened, and poured forth on the world a 
healing flood of heavenly grace. Herein is love ! We 
will not presume to question whether a gift of inferior val- 
ue would have been adequate to relieve the world or not: 
but God so loved us that he could not have realized his 
vast propensions of grace by giving us less ; he so loved 
us, that he would not suffer it to remain possible to be said 
he could love us more; he knew that a donation of calcu- 
lable value would only call forth an odious spirit of fierce 
and jealous monopoly, but he so loved us, that he resolved 
on a gift, defying all computation, and the very mention of 
which should surcharge our minds with greatness, give us 
an idea of infinity, and impregnate our selfishness with a 
transforming sentiment of generous and diffusive benevo- 
lence; he so loved us, that he would leave nothing for the 
most apprehensive guilt to fear, nor the most capacious 






102 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

wishes to desire ; he laid claim to the whole of our affec- 
tions, by pouring out the whole treasury of heaven, by 
giving us his all at once. Herein is love ! 

4 God sent not his Son into the world to condemn 
the world, but that the world through him might be saved.' 
In order to enhance our views of the divine compassion, 
the Savior in this language, reminds us of the terrible al- 
ternative which outraged Omnipotence might have adopt- 
ed. He carries back our thoughts to the time when God, 
after looking with centuries of patience and forbearance 
on the unparalleled spectacle of his holy law prostrate, and 
broken, and trampled under foot by a confederated race of 
rebellious creatures, came forth out of his place, and pun- 
ished the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ; swept 
them away with a flood as with a besom of destruction. 
But man, insensible to the lessons of chastisement, was no 
sooner permitted to repeople the earth, than he resumed 
his weapons, renewed his hostility to heaven under cir- 
cumstances of aggravationunknown before, and transmit- 
ted to his posterity, as if it had been a sacred obligation, the 
art and spirit of the unnatural war. So deep had this in- 
fernal enmity to God struck its roots in the human heart, 
and so wide were its ramifications throughout the entire 
mass of humanity, that even a solitary indication of re- 
turning friendship towards him was denounced as treach- 
ery to a common cause ; the first relaxation of this im- 
pious strife, the first relenting sigh, was instantly detected 
by a wakeful impiety, quickened by hatred to an instinc- 
tive vigilance ; and was summarily dealt with as an ene- 
my in the camp. Man had naturalized the principle of 
sin ; had consecrated vice in all its forms ; had opened to 
it all the recesses of his nature ; cherished and established 
its dominion by every species of submission and indulg- 
ence ; and boasted of his new allegiance in the face of 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 103 

heaven. The only law which kept mankind united, the 
only sympathy which held the unnumbered parts and in- 
terests of the world in affinity, seemed to be an all-pervad- 
ing principle of aversion to God ; and this was sufficient 
to bind them fast for ages, in one great and unbroken work 
of prodigious guilt. The destruction of the world, there- 
fore, so far from being an infraction of justice, was only 
what justice required; would only have been the natural 
course of things, flowing in the unobstructed order of 
cause and effect. A crisis had arrived in the government 
of God on earth, in which something great and decisive 
must be done ; prolong the delay — and the character of 
God will be compromised and gone ; the voices of the 
souls beneath the altar were wearied with crying for retri- 
bution ; the armory of heaven was open ; all its hosts and 
equipments ready ; justice had only to speak the word, and, 
in a moment's flight, the panic earth would have beheld its 
firmament filled with the careering fires and terrific forms 
of desending wrath. The Son of God had only to pour 
out the vial of incensed wrath, and there had been voices, 
and thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes, and uni- 
versal desolation ; and all the holy intelligences, as they 
stood afar off, on the sea of glass, beholding the tremen- 
dous catastrophe, would have said, ■ Thou art righteous, O 
Lord, because thou hast judged thus.' 

But at that crisis of the world, when every movement 
in the government of God was to be watched with breath- 
less apprehension; when, had justice made the slightest 
move, every thing that had feeling would have veiled its 
eyes in fear, then mercy prevailed to unfold the scheme of 
love, and it became the office of justice to wonder and at- 
tend ; then, when God might have sent his Son to condemn 
the world, he was sent — amazing grace ! — to save it. Here- 
in is love ! The apostles never touched it, but they in- 



104 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

stantly kindled at the inspiration of the theme. Conscious 
that their language fell far below their conceptions, and 
their conception below their subject, they could only ex- 
claim, in the impotence of overwhelming admiration, 
Herein is love I The universe is crowded with proofs of 
his benevolence; but here is a proof which outweighs 
them all ! How much he loved us we can never compute ; 
we have no line with which to fathom, no standard with 
which to compare it ; but he so loved us that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that through him he might confer on us 
eternal life. 

IV. But, in order to raise our estimate of the divine be- 
nevolence, the Savior not only announces that he brings from 
heaven the infinite donation of eternal life ; he points our 
attention to the means of mercy. ' For as Moses lifted up 
the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be 
lifted up.' Everlasting life is a gift so ineffably great, an 
alternative so vast for creatures who had reached, who 
were crossing the confines of endless death, that had it cost 
the Almighty but a mere volition, had it been the result of 
a flat as easy and unexpensive as that which gave birth to 
light, it would still have rendered his grace the theme and 
wonder of the universe. But, however spontaneous the 
love which projected the plan of mercy, the execution of 
that plan asks for more than the simple volitions which 
created the world, or the unconstrained and tranquil circu- 
lation of the power which sustains it. The Son of Man 
must be lifted up. He must yield to conditions of which 
an infinite nature alone is capable ; and in yielding to 
which, all that infinite capability will be in stress. At the 
time he spoke, he had already made an infinite stoop, in 
consenting to an actual junction with the nature that had 
sinned, and on which sin was to be punished. But this was 
only the prologue of the act of mercy. He had joined the 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 105 

offending nature to his own, for the distinct and deliberate 
object of pouring out the blood which flowed through its 
veins, and of making its soul an offering for sin. His 
whole life was only a preface to his death. Having taken 
a survey of all that would be required from the Surety of 
sinners ; having cast up and pondered the mighty sum of 
guilt to be cancelled ; and measured with his eye the thun- 
der-stores of wrath which must be exhausted ; and fathom- 
ed the pit which to them was bottomless : he pressed the 
entire responsibility to his heart, and addressed himself to 
the task. Our nature, to him, was a robe of suffering, as- 
sumed expressly, that, when the crisis of our redemption 
came, justice might find him sacrificially attired and pre- 
pared for the altar, a substance which her sword could 
smite, a victim which could agonize and die. And, if the hu- 
man soul admits of an indefinite enlargement, in its capa- 
city of pleasure and pain ; if the admission of the purified 
spirit to the uncreated splendor above, augments that capa- 
city to such a degree, that almost an infinitude of emotion 
can be compressed into the space of a moment ; what must 
have been the measureless capability of the human soul 
which he took into so perfect a union with his divinity, that 
the two natures composed only one person : what must have 
been the acquired intensity of its antipathy to sin, and what 
the consequent intensity of his exceeding sorrow, when, 
being in an agony, he had, in a sense, to absorb the infinite 
mass of human guilt, and to exhaust, in one short moment, 
the mighty cup of omnipotent wrath! 

For the key to all this mystery of compassion, the Sa- 
vior himself refers us to the love of God. While we are 
standing before his cross, and musing on that amazing ex- 
pedient of mercy, the holy Sufferer himself raises his eyes 
to heaven for its origin, and looks at the heart of God. He 
impresses on us the sublime fact, that the father loves us. 



106 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

not in consequence of the great propitiation, but that he 
provided the propitiation because he loved us ; because he 
was bent on obtaining a medium through which he could 
pour out the ocean-fulness of his love upon us. 

Of all the remarkable declarations of Christ, when the 
love of God was his theme, one of the most striking, per- 
haps, and one which seems to place us in an unusually fa- 
vorable position for looking at the divine benevolence, is the 
memorable sentence, ' Therefore doth my Father love me, 
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again . . . 

because I lay down my life for the sheep': ' in other 

words, ' My Father loves you with a love so unbounded, 
that he even loves me the more for dying to redeem you. 
He so loves you, that whatever facilitates the expression of 
his love, receives an expression of his divine esteem: by 
sustaining your liabilities, by surrendering my life as an 
equivalent for your transgressions, and thus vindicating his 
law from all appearance of connivance at sin, I am setting 
his compassion at liberty; I am removing a restraint from 
his love, which threatened to hold it in eternal suspense; I 
am enabling his grace to act, to save whom it will ; and for 
thus concurring in his benevolent purpose, and opening an 
ample channel for the tide of his love to flow in, the Father 
loves me ; I receive such additional expressions of his com- 
placency, that, though ineffably beloved from eternity, he 
may be said to have added infinite delight to infinite.' 

And how does it enhance our conceptions of the divine 
compassion when we reflect that there is a sense in which 
the sufferings of Christ were the sufferings of the Father 
also. From eternity, their divine subsistence in the unity 
of the Godhead had been only short of identity ; nor 
could the circumstance of the Savior's humiliation in the 
slightest degree relax the bonds of this mutual in-being ; 
while walking the earth in the form of a servant, he could 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 107 

still affirm, 'My Father is in me, and I in him ..... I and 
my Father are one.' Once and again did the paternal 
complacency overflow, surprising the world with expres- 
sions of infinite delight, and inviting us to resign our 
hearts at once and forever to his beloved Son ; besides 
which, numerous intimations are given, that the mysterious 
interchange of divine affection which had existed from 
eternity, continued in undiminished activity ; that the In- 
carnate Word was often surrounded as with an atmosphere 
instinct with love, into which God had breathed the ele- 
ments of the joy which He had with the Father before the 
world was ; that had the great designs of mercy allowed, 
the paternal love, as if impatient of his continuance on 
earth, would have borne him from the world, and resumed 
him to himself again. 

The love of God then invites our adoration, not only as 
it, at first, sent his only begotten Son ; during every mo- 
ment of the Savior's sojourn on earth, that love was repeat- 
ing its gift, was making an infinite sacrifice for sinners ; 
while every pang he endured in the prosecution of his 
work was the infliction of a wound in the very heart of pa- 
ternal love. Who then shall venture to speak of the ap- 
peal which was made to that love, of the trial to which 
that love was put, when the blessed Jesus took into his 
hand the cup of suffering, when his capacity for suffering 
was the only limitation his sufferings knew. If it be true 
that God is always in vital, sympathetic communication with 
every part of the suffering creation ; that, as the sensorium 
of the universe, he apprehends every emotion and commis- 
serates every thrill of anguish, how exquisitely must he 
have felt the filial appeal, when, in the extremity of pain, 
in the very crisis of his agonizing task, the Savior cried, 
1 My God, my God ; why hast thou forsaken me ! ' Were 
it possible for a moment to occur, in which the worship of 



108 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

heaven could be lost on the divine attention ; in which the 
infinite mind could be concentrated and confined to one ob- 
ject alone; that, surely, must have been the moment. Were 
it possible that any juncture could have arrived, in which 
the paternal love could have repented the sacrifice it had 
made for man; that, surely, must have been the hour. 

What a new and amazing - insight, then, does it give us 
into his love for sinners, that it was able to bear the stress 
of that crisis, that it did not yield and give way to the in- 
calculable power of that appeal. This is a circumstance, 
which if I may so say, puts into our hands a line, enabling 
us to fathom his love to an infinite depth ; but we find it 
immeasurably deeper still. It invests the attractions of 
the cross with augmented power ; for in the sufferings of 
that scene we behold more — if more we are capable of see- 
ing — more even than the love of Christ ; in every pang 
which is there endured, we behold the throes of paternal 
love, the pulsations and tears of infinite compassion ; more 
than the creation in travail, the divine Creator himself tra- 
vailing in the greatness of almighty love. 

V. But if this be an outline of the means of mercy, 
what can be the nature of that end which justifies the em- 
ployment of such means? To enlarge our views of the 
divine benevolence, the Savior announces that he brings 
from heaven the vast donation of eternal life ; that the sole 
object of God, in sending him to be lifted up, is, that we 
might have everlasting life. The separation which sin had 
effected between God and man, had robbed us of a whole 
order of life. All that remained to us on earth, was a 
masked and modified form of death ; and, as to the future, 
there was nothing left us but to perish for ever. Here, 
then, was scope for divine benevolence to do as little or as 
much as it chose. Here was a wide waste of misery, inferior 
only to the blank and limitless desolation of hell, in which 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 109 

divine compassion could find room to expatiate at large ; and 
in which, while its richest stores could be all employed, its 
smallest gift would be an infinite gratuity — showing like 
a single star in the darkness of midnight. 

But he chose it to be the theatre of his mightiest grace. 
As if heaven with all its amplitude, were too confined, he 
sought to enlarge the sphere of his beneficence, by the ad- 
dition of another province 5 and, as if to take the universe 
by surprise, to put forth his grace in a form which it had 
not entered into the busy and far-reaching minds of angels 
to conceive, he chose that that province should be this sink- 
ing world. But there is suspended over it a sweeping 
sentence of utter condemnation : the clouds of wrath are 
collected around it ; the materials of destruction have been 
piled up for ages, and still they continue to increase ; it is 
the place where Satan's seat is, and all its population he 
holds in allegiance : it is the immediate precincts and 
neighborhood of hell. Yes, but these are the mighty im- 
pediments which it is the glory of God to cope with and 
overcome; these are the hopeless materials, the elements 
of damnation, out of which he delights to raise the fabric 
of eternal life. To deliver us only from the impending evil, 
or to confer on us merely a limited good, could not have 
satisfied his paternal heart. Having committed himself to 
the amazing work of our redemption, he resolved that he 
would spare nothing however costly, withhold nothing 
however dear, which was essential to the consummation of 
the design. Having begun to bless us, he determined that 
he would not stop short of heaven itself; that he would 
not stop even there, but would continue to surround us with 
favors, to heap on us gift after gift, until he had filled our 
capacity for enjoyment, and had opened to us all the treas- 
ures of eternal life. 

For this high purpose, his peculiar presence was neces- 



110 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

sary amongst us ; accordingly, he erected a throne on earth, 
making it the scene of his especial grace, and of wonders 
surpassing those of heaven. The course of justice re- 
quires that sin should be, not merely pardoned, but pun- 
ished, or expiated ; he compasses both by appointing his on- 
ly begotten Son, first to expiate, and then forgive. But man 
is severed from the life of God ; his soul is so palsied and 
disabled by the deadly poison of sin, that his spiritual sys- 
tem is incapable of appropriating and circulating the element 
of a divine life, were it even provided ; and so prone, so 
ingenious is he to pervert every blessing he receives, and 
to employ it as a weapon against the divine Bestower, that 
providence can hardly dare to bless him. But God is not 
to be thus defeated : he sent his Son to assume our human- 
ity ; that through him he might open the springs of his 
life-giving nature anew, and henceforth maintain a perpetual 
stream of his vital and transforming spirit ; that, by this 
mysterious adjunction of our nature to his, he himself 
might henceforth live through all the powers of the soul — 
light, in its understanding ; love, in its affections ; a per- 
petual current of blessedness and joy, blended with the 
stream of its own consciousness ; and life to its immortali- 
ty, life of the most exalted order. But the properties of 
that life, who on earth shall describe 1 It is more than a 
simple element of good, a single blessing ; it is a vast assem- 
blage of blessings. All other things, at best, are only ac- 
cessaries to happiness ; this is happiness itself. Compared 
with this, a bare perpetuity of existence, is only a mockery 
of life, deserves only the name of death ; this is existence, 
enriched with the highest positive blessedness ; life, puri- 
fied, exalted, applied to the loftiest purposes, carried out to 
its utmost extent of enjoyment ; the very crown of being. 
Everlasting life is a name for a blessing, which enables us 
to challenge, with impunity, the universe of evil, and to 



HIS ORIGINALITY. Ill 

write our names as heirs, on all the universe of good ; it is 
God himself multiplied in the souls of his people. 

VI. And, as the representative of the Father, our bless- 
ed Lord offered this gift to all. Human reason, arguing 
from the limited application of the benefit, would infer that 
the extent of the love which provided, and the value of the 
means which procured it, are limited also ; would examine 
them by the torture of its logic, and bring its insignificant 
line to the measurement of boundless grace. Human self- 
ishness would make a monopoly of eternal life. The 
Jewish christians would fain have made it a local and na- 
tional benefit ; till the unconfutable spirit came, and show- 
ed them that, like the air, it belonged to the world. And 
the inheritors of their selfishness, in every succeeding age, 
have attempted to number Israel, to count the people ; have 
adhered to the persuasion that the great gift of eternal life 
is only to be offered to a party. But an attempt to imprison 
the air, and to enchain the light, would be wise and salu- 
tary compared with this. 

Of the angels that kept not their first estate, we read, 
that God hath reserved them in everlasting chains, under 
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. From 
which we learn, that when any part of the creation sins, 
and falls away from God, the natural, direct, and if mercy 
interpose not, the inevitable consequence of such apostacy, 
is everlasting and remediless punishment. Why did not 
sin then entail this awful consequence on man ? Why is 
it that some other race of intelligent beings is not, at this 
moment, reading concerning us, what we have just quoted 
of the apostate angels — that the race of man, the inhabit- 
ants of the earth who kept not their first estate, God hath 
reserved in everlasting chains of darkness against the 
judgment of the great day? Our only reply is, that God, 



112 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

having designed our salvation, devised an expedient, in the 
sacrifice of Christ, of unlimited value — unlimited, hy right 
of its own nature, as God himself is infinite : so that the 
love of God, acting through the atonement of Christ, has 
been, from the beginning of time, keeping all the living 
out of hell, and conducting multitudes to heaven ; and thus 
operating, as it is at this moment, in favor of all mankind. 
To this source it is that our Lord would have us to ascribe 
our common mercies ; he would put every individual of 
our race to take a census of the divine favors ; to compute 
how many of these he enjoys in common with the species, 
and how many, besides, are conferred in particular on him- 
self; and, finally, to draw the inevitable conclusion, that 
universality belongs to the divine goodness. And, while 
his ordinary blessings are chartered to the world, shall 
the stigma of exclusiveness be reserved for his grace alone 7 
* I am the light of the world,' said Christ : a blessing uni- 
versal as the light. He came to demolish every wall of 
partition, to throw open every compartment in the temple of 
creation, that every worshipper might have free and equal 
access to the God of the temple. He so unveiled and pre* 
sented the character of God, that every human being 
should feel it to be looking on himself, casting an aspect of 
benignity directly on himself. The message of mercy 
which he brought from the Father was meant for the ear 
of the world; ' whoso hath ears to hear, let him hear.' 
And supposing the world to be assembled, and audience 
obtained, this was the music which broke from his lips, 
' God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life.' He gave him, to encircle the 
world with an atmosphere of grace, as real and universal, 
as the elemental air which encompasses and circulates 
around the globe itself; and whoever chooses to enhale it, 
hath eternal life. 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 113 

Herein is love ! That he should have raised our world 
from the gloomy suburbs of hell, and have lifted it into 
the radiance of an orbit next his throne : that he should 
have made our hatred subserve the purposes of his love, 
and have educed from our evil a greater good than would 
have otherwise existed ; that he should have adopted our 
nature into the person of his Son, and have carried it to 
the highest throne of the highest heavens ; that he should 
confer on us an honor, to which a retinue of angels would 
form no comparison, no addition — himself inhabiting and 
possessing us with his own life, making us instinct with his 
own Spirit ; that the origin of all this should be his spon^ 
taneous love ; that the means of it should be the incarna- 
tion and death of his only begotten Son, and its consumma- 
tion — but for that we have at present only a name, stand- 
ing in the stead of an infinite meaning — everlasting life ; — 
whatever the point from which we contemplate his love, 
the prospect widens into infinitude ; the subject grows in 
our hands ; amasses glory on glory, till it becomes too 
bright for contemplation, and towers as high as the heaven 
is above the earth. O what a God, what a Father, what 
an ocean of love is the God of our salvation ! Having 
collected all the riches of the universe, and laid open all 
the resources of his infinite nature, he gave them all into 
the hands of Christ, and said, ' These, all these, are for 
man ; use them for man ; distribute them to men ; if ne- 
cessary, confer them all upon man, in order to convince 
him that there is no love in the universe but mine, and 
that his happiness consists in loving me, and giving him- 
self to me in return.' In discharge of this momentous 
trust, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It 
was to render this vast deposit available that he sprinkled 
it with his blood ; an act by which he, at the same time, both 
made it ours, and added to its original value an infinity of 

7 



114 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

worth ; an act by which he created for the world a truth 
incomparably more precious than aught which the ark 
contained — that the richest gift, and the costliest sacrifice, 
have been selected by God, as the only adequate expres- 
sion of his love to man. 

Our redemption by Christ is an exhibition of grace 
which God himself cannot surpass : unexpected develope- 
ments of its relations and glories will, no doubt, through 
eternity be constantly rising to view, and maintaining for it 
a character of ever new and increasing interest ; our con- 
ceptions of its excellence will be continually receiving fresh 
accessions : but while its future glory may surpass its 
present in the eyes of the redeemed, God, if I may be al- 
lowed to say so, the blessed God has deprived himself of 
the power of ever eclipsing that glory by exhibiting to the 
universe a richer display of love. But well may his infin- 
ite mind be satisfied with this as his crowning work ; for 
he has now demonstrated to all his intelligent creation, that 
there is no love but his. 

VII. But the Savior had not yet completed his repre- 
sentation of the divine character. He had rolled away 
the thick darkness from before the throne of God, and had 
revealed him to the world as light and love ; but it re- 
mained to attemper the radiance of the light, and to soften 
and humanize the love. As long as we remain immersed 
in sense, we must be indebted for all our conceptions to 
sensible objects ; hence the purest and most abstract of hu- 
man sciences has its diagrams ; and Christianity the most 
spiritual form of religion, employs its symbols. The same 
necessity has, in every age, expressed itself in ardent de- 
sires for sensible manifestations ofthe Divine Being. The 
entreaty of Moses, ' I beseech thee'show me thy glory,' was 
again repeated by Philip, when he said, 'Show us the Fa- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 115 

ther, and, it sufficeth us ;' and both requests were only the 
echo of a universal desire; a desire of the mind for some- 
thing to sustain it in its most etherial of efforts, its endeavors 
to think of God. 

Another necessity requiring to be met, was the exagger- 
ated fears of the penitent sinner, when interpreting the rec- 
toral office of the Father in the covenant of grace, into a 
proof of his avenging inexorableness. In the ministry of 
the Gospel, the constant reference which is necessarily 
made to his just requirements in maintaining the rights of 
Deity, is extremely liable to produce on a mind, perturbed 
with guilt, an impression of dread, which no mere abstract 
descriptions of the love of God can effectually remove; I 
which makes it impossible to speak of that love in terms 
of excess. Now, of both these necessities, the Savior took 
special cognizance; against each of them he fully provided , 
when, standing forth before the eye of the world, he pro- 
claimed himself the perfect representative of the Father ; 
and in that capacity, challenged for the Father, the confi- 
dence, and affection, and cordial allegiance of mankind. 
' I am in the Father, said he, and the Father is in me ;' ... . 
■ from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip 
saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, audit sufficeth 
us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with 
you, and yet bast thou not known me, Philip ? He that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou 
then, Show us the Father ? Believest thou not that I am 
in the Father, and the Father in me ? ... . the Father that 
dvvelleth in me, he doeththe 'works. Believe me, that I 
am in the Father, and the Father in me : or else believe me 
for the very works' sake.' « I and my Father are one.' 

Instead of leaving our faith to apprehend an infinite ab- 
straction, he has, in his own person, invested the Deity with 
that power over our minds which a definite object alone can 



116 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

exercise. Instead of claiming our affections merely for 
the invisible and impalpable cause of mercy, he wrestles 
with our fears, and challenges our embracing affections, by 
protesting that there is no feature to be loved in himself, 
which is not equally to be loved in the character of God ; 
that if we admire the tenderness and compassion of his 
character, we are admiring the very same qualities in the 
Father ; that we do injustice to his representative charac- 
ter, if we do not receive it entire as a perfect reduplication 
of the mind of God. He would have us to believe, and to 
act on the belief, that so far from attempting to bribe and 
beguile our affections for God, by expressing for us a kind- 
ness to which the heart of God does not respond, he could 
not have omitted a single expression of that kindness with- 
out giving us a defective idea of the divine benevolence ; 
that so utterly impossible would it be for him to give us 
an exaggerated conception of that benevolence, that could 
we by any process collect and concentrate all the varied 
expressions of his grace to a focal point, and receive the 
effect of the whole entire, and at once, that effect, after all, 
would be a bare and inadequate expression of the love of 
God to man. Whatever doctrine of grace he propounds, 
whatever promise he gives, whatever deed of love he per- 
forms, whatever divine attractions he exhibits, — every such 
attraction in him is to be regarded as an index to the same 
quality indefinitely greater in the character of God. The 
conduct of Christ is a copy, a living map of the im- 
mense expanse of the divine perfections, reduced from its 
infinite dimensions, and subdued to a scale studiously 
adapted to the feeble vision of man. The character of 
God, so infinitely reduced, is to be seen in the life of 
Christ ; the excellencies of Christ, if infinitely magnified 
and restored to their original proportions, are to be found 
in the perfections of God. The character of Christ is 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 117 

the conception of a being of infinite amiableness, seeking 
to engage the heart of a world that reasons by analogy, 
and to enamour it of divine excellence. How often did he 
authenticate the life of Jesus, and give it currency as a 
copy of his own. Had the Almighty Father veiled his 
glories, and dwelt among us, the history which now belongs 
to Christ would have related, word for word, his own con- 
descending grace ; so that, in every word and act of Jesus, 
we are to recognise, in effect, the voice and movements of 
paternal love. 

In the person of Christ, we behold the eternal God en- 
gaged in an enterprise of boundless mercy. To aid our 
conceptions of his being, he clothes his spirituality in the 
vestments of humanity. To convince us that an un- 
limited concern for our souls may co-exist with the utmost 
hatred of our sins, he shows us that the river of the 
water of life takes its rise from under his throne ; he 
plants a cross, and provides a sacrifice, and enacts before 
the world a prodigy of mercy, of which this is the only 
adequate solution, that he so loved us. That no unwar- 
ranted apprehensions of his greatness might efface this im- 
pression of his love from our minds, that all suspicion and 
distrust might be made impossible, he shows us that he can 
stoop from an act which saves a world, to number the 
very hairs of our head ; that his regard for the whole com- 
prises a regard for each infinitesimal part ; so that what- 
ever has the power of raising an emotion in our breast, 
acquires, by that circumstance, if by nothing else, suf- 
ficient importance to receive his sympathetic attention. 
Disrobed of his essential glory, unattended by the train 
and state of heaven, as if earth was to be henceforth his 
adopted home, he came, evidently attired for a purpose of 
love ; mingled in our common cares, and inscribed his 
name on every object which speaks to the human heart. 



118 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

The cup of sorrow never passed him untasted ; often did 
he exhaust the distasteful draught himself, and return the 
cup of gladness in its stead. The human heart, in his 
hands, might have become a sacred harp, every chord of 
which should have sent forth none hut heavenly music. 
The history of his labors of, love, is the shame and con- 
demnation of unbelief, the argument of faith and hope, the 
standing memorial of his claims on the undoubting trust 
of a dependent world ; for it presents him, not barely ful- 
filling the conditions of our redemption, but far exceeding 
them ; going beyond the complement of grace ; overflow- 
ing in supererogatory acts of beneficence; and anticipating 
the tender offices proper to heaven, by beginning even here 
to wipe away all tears from all faces. 

VIII. Having restored our confidence in the divine 
character, the Savior sought to complete our love to God, 
by teaching us to address him by a new name ; a name 
which should be at once a sign of our affection to him, 
and a pledge of his tender regard and relationship to us. 
He knew that the name which is entwined with the dearest 
associations of the human heart, is also the name which 
hath most music in the ear of God — and therefore he 
selected and encouraged us to employ it — the endearing 
appellation of Father. And that we might not be deterred 
from taking it into our lips by the fear of presumption, he 
continues to repeat it, again and again, until it has become 
familiar to our ear. Thus instructed and encouraged, he 
leads us through a new and living way, every step of which 
is hung with emblems of paternal love, adorned with me- 
morials of redeeming grace ; conducts us into the holiest 
of all, even to our Father's throne ; reveals him there sur- 
rounded with all the heaped and opulent resources of in- 
finite grace ; and then, in order that our confidence and 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 119 

love might find speech, and our poverty loose itself in 
boundless wealth, he adds, ' Ask, and ye shall receive,' 
' If ye, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your 
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him.' 

It will then, I think, be conceded that the character of 
the Supreme Being, as it came from the hands of Christ, 
was an original subject, a new gift to the world. It was 
new in the universal aspect of benevolence which it bears 
towards man ; as opposed to those limited conceptions of 
his goodness which were cherished, if not propagated, by 
the Jewish economy : new in its mode of exemplification ; 
for it was seen, not in the works of nature, the operations 
of providence, or the rites of religion, but in the living in- 
carnation, the real and visible person of his only begotten 
Son : new in its bestowments ; for hitherto, however rich 
his gifts to his church had been, he had always accompa- 
nied them with an assurance that he had yet a gift in reserve 
in which all good would be summed up ; and however va- 
rious they had been, they all bore some resemblance and 
relation to each other, in value, at least, if in nothing else : 
but now in the person of Christ he bestowed the promised 
gift, eclipsed his former grace, and conferred a donation, 
which, as it was perfectly original, so it can never be re- 
peated or equalled ; since every subsequent donation is 
only a consequence and part of the gift, and eternity itself 
will be necessary for the full developement of all it con- 
tains : new in its paternal aspect; not merely representing 
him as our Father, but teaching us to address him as such; 
to regard him as the fountain of all that parental affection 
which has flown down, generation after generation, through 
the channel of human hearts ; and to believe that all the 
pity, compassion, and love, which he has ever poured 
through parental natures, are as nothing compared with 



120 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

what resides in his own heart ; that however much he 
may have imparted, infinitely more, a reserved ocean, must 
ever remain behind in himself; and that all this is in per- 
petual activity, interesting itself in the wants, and provid 
ing for the happiness of his people: and new, also, in the 
mode of its future connection with man, through a Media 
tor ; for since Christ came to declare the Father unto us, it 
is the exalted privilege of believers to contemplate God in 
Christ, to approach his throne in the name, and relying on 
the successful intercession of Christ. 

' And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the 
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.' 
Knowledge, of all kinds, is the wealth proper to a rational 
nature ; but to captivate us with the knowledge of God, 
our Lord declares that this is the only science which con- 
ducts to happiness, the only wealth which can be converted 
into unfading crowns and eternal life. As the whole of 
celestial blessedness is often, in scripture, made to consist in 
the vision of God; so the whole of religion on earth, is 
represented as consisting in the knowledge of him. Be- 
cause, first, all sin originates in ignorance of God ; that 
is, it is indebted for its existence to the absence of God, 
temporary or habitual, from the mind ; it triumphs most 
where he is most completely unknown or forgotten ; it 
could not lift up its deformity with the hope of being loved, 
in the strong light of his glorious presence. Because, 
secondly, were the mind discharged and clear of all the 
obstructions of sin, it would be only necessary for it to see 
God, in order to be supremely enamored of him ; the bare 
perception of his image, as pourtrayed by Christ, would 
alone be sufficient to change the soul, by mere intensity of 
love, into the same image. And because, thirdly, although 
the mind is filled with hostile influences, it is only necessa- 
ry for the Holy Spirit to bring him before it, to place his 



: 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 121 

character advantageously before its eye, and the sight at- 
tracts, softens, subdues, ceases not to operate, till it has 
transformed the soul into its own likeness. 

Is it then producing this saving effect upon us ? or is the 
vast and glorious conception of God inhabiting our minds 
to no purpose ? Shall the knowledge of God, which Jesus 
Christ came from heaven to impart, remain in our 
possession, through a whole life as a dead and useless 
thing? have we nothing of less moment to sport with, that 
we must needs 1 trifle with this ? shall it at last be reckoned 
our greatest curse, that we knew the blessed God? We 
cannot even glance an inquiring look towards him, but Je- 
sus advances to encourage the act, saying, ' To know him 
is life eternal.' We cannot place ourselves in the pleasant 
beams of his light, cannot be conscious of a single emo- 
tion of admiration of his character, but Jesus addresses 
himself to our rising hopes, and says, ' You can be like 
him; you may even resemble the blessed God ; Be ye 
perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.' We can- 
not cherish a desire, or breathe a sigh for conformity, but 
the Holy Spirit forth with begins to transcribe his will on 
the inner man, to abridge and to epitomise his likeness on 
the heart in the process of regeneration. God, who com- 
manded the light to shine out of darkness, is willing to 
shine into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 
of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 



122 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



SECTION II CONCERNING HIMSELF. 



' No man knoweth the Son but the Father' 



1 1,' said Christ, ' am the light of the world: ' he arose 
on the world, an object as wonderful and new in his per- 
son and office, as the sun when it first took rank among 
the stars of heaven ; and like the solar light, while pour- 
ing a flood of radiance on every thing else, he remains 
himself a glorious mystery. Notwithstanding the diver- 
sified dreams in which the world had for ages indulged 
concerning his person and advent ; and all the materials 
for fancy to work with, supplied by the paintings of proph- 
ecy ; and the significant shadows which providence had 
thrown before ; his appearance at last took mankind by 
surprise ; a surprise for which the world avenged itself, 
by arming against him and all who should afterwards as- 
sume his badge; but a surprise which overwhelmed the 
church with a measure of gratitude and delight to which 
it has ever since been giving expression, and the full utter- 
ance of which it reserves for a world where its strains, re- 
lieved from all interruption, shall be swelled and aided by 
all the harps of God. 

The supernatural truths by which he is described are 
so early instilled into our minds, that we ought not to be 
able to remember the time when first we heard them ; and, 
having become so familiar to us, it requires a considerable 
mental effort to realise the thought, that they were ever 
original. But though the human mind had been for ages 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 123 

training to receive him, he found himself, on becoming 
man, a stranger in a world of strangers. 

Judging from the conduct of his disciples, the Mosaic 
economy does not appear to have given them a single cor- 
rect presentiment concerning him. His character and 
claims were so perfectly unique, that although their relig- 
ion was instituted expressly to be his analogue — and it 
was the only thing in the world which did represent him — 
yet they did not at first perceive a single point of coinci- 
dence. Every truth which he uttered respecting himself 
fell on their ear with the strangeness of a new revelation ; 
and instead of being received into their minds with the 
welcome of an expected guest, had to create a place for 
itself, or to wait till they could feel themselves reconciled 
to the novelty. They were not, indeed, wanting in occa- 
sional confessions and ascriptions, which satisfied his claims, 
and called forth his approbation ; but much of this homage 
was involuntarily won by some sudden escape of his 
glory, some surprising 1 display of his greatness; and the 
frequent inconsistencies in their conduct, by which that 
homage was in a sense recalled or neutralized, showed 
that though a new disturbing power was at work within 
them, it had not yet succeeded in acquiring the dominion 
of principle and conviction. 

Nor was it till after his return to heaven that they began 
to appreciate aright the claims of the illustrious visitant. 
Then, when the excitement attending the vision began to 
subside, they found they had been entertaining the Lord 
of angels unawares : then, when the Spirit brought all 
things to their remembrance ; when the words of Christ 
were once more repeated in their ears, and the wonders of 
his life were made to pass in slow and stately procession 
before their eyes, they awoke as from a trance, and pro- 
claimed that the Word had been made flesh, and dwelt 



124 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

among- us, and that they had beheld his glory, the glor 
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth. At the dictation of the Spirit, they proceeded to re- 
cord a sketch of his life ; but they labored at no encomium; 
they left that life to speak for itself; they felt that in sim- 
ply uttering the name of Jesus, they were repeating a 
name for that is all transcendent in humanity, and all that 
is glorious in Deity. Henceforth they sought to atone for 
their past misapprehensions of him by confessing and re- 
cording those misapprehensions to their own condemna- 
tion : by showing to the world that he had displaced every 
other idea of greatness from their minds ; and that, if while 
proclaiming his worth to others, they were called to die 
for his sake, it was the highest honor to which they aspir- 
ed. The vision which John beheld of him, when he saw 
in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one like unto 
the Son of man, was only, in one sense, an image of his 
surpassing glory, as he was continually present to the 
minds of them all. 

I. Looking at the outline of our Savior's character, 
which ancient prophecy had sketched, and comparing it 
with the more finished portrait which he drew of himself, 
it is obvious that, even supposing the former had taken full 
effect on the minds of his disciples, there was yet so much 
of originality in the additions of the latter, that they could 
scarcely fail to contemplate it without receiving an impres- 
sion of entire novelty. The pen of inspiration had re- 
corded that his goings forth had been from everlasting ; 
in illustration of this sublime truth, he raised the veil of 
the past eternity, carried back their thoughts through date- 
less ages before the world began, towards the unimagina- 
ble and awful place where God dwells, assuring them that 
there never was a period when he was not there ; there, 




HIS ORIGINALITY. 125 

as an object of infinite complacency ; there, in a fellow- 
ship of glory with Deity ; there, in an identity of charac- 
ter, and unity of essence, a mutual intuition comprising 
knowledge which no created mind can be made to compre- 
hend : that he, to whose human voice they were then lis- 
tening, had there seen the cycles of eternity revolve, the 
ages of time expire, the fathers of their nation and the 
lights of their church, many kings and prophets, and 
righteous men, fill up the measure of their days ; and that 
thence he had actually come forth and descended to save 
the world. 

Prophecy, indeed, had accustomed them to expect in 
Christ a duality of natures and a consequent mysterious- 
ness of character and person which would entitle him to 
be called Wonderful. But what imagination was prepar- 
ed, even by this exciting prediction, for the great reality. 
It is true, a herald was sent before to call the attention of 
the world, and to place it in a state of preparation for his 
coming ; but, ' should he condescend to speak of himself/ 
it might have been said, ' by what mental revolution, what 
new combination of thought, shall we prepare to under- 
stand him % Perhaps, however, he may maintain a reserve 
on this subject ; a regard for our limited capacity, and the 
peculiar object of his mission, may induce him to hold th© 
mysteries of his nature in abeyance.' And he did so. 
He frequently made it apparent that his object was not to 
expound the complexity of his nature, but to pour into the 
heart of the world the entire advantage which that com- 
plexity was capable of producing ; and that, as he had 
stooped to the low conditions of humanity, he sought not 
tenaciously to assert the dignity of his superior claims, but 
considered his humiliation as consisting partly in dwelling 
on the degradation to which he had stooped. But though 
he frequently waived the subject in question, yet as often 



126 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

as necessity urged him to advert to it, he must be confes- 
sed to have uttered * a new thing in the earth.' We are 
in the full and familiar possession of his sayings: but had 
we heard him when first he declared, ' No man hath as- 
cended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, 
even the Son of man who is in heaven ; ' ' Before Abra* 
ham was, I am ; ' should we not have felt that we were 
listening to a being to whom all space is a point, and all 
time but a moment : that our thoughts could not keep pace 
with the rapid and boundless transitions, his words re- 
quired ; that he was approaching a subject which the lim- 
ited terms, and analogical language of human speech have 
no signs to represent, no powers to convey; a subject of 
which our minds, accustomed as they are to the mere parts 
of things, to fractional thoughts, and fragments of truth, 
could receive only, at most, an angular point, a very ob- 
scure glimpse and confused impression? 

Had we heard him affirm, in the face of his evident hu- 
manity, that he was not of this world; that we knew not 
whence he came or whither he went; that the Father 
alone, as a being of infinite intuition, knew him to perfec- 
tion; should we not have felt that we were listening to 
blasphemy, or else to the only being incapable of blas- 
phemy, because he alone can be the object of it ; that a 
principle of interpretation, hitherto unknown to the world 
must be found and applied to his self descriptions, a prin- 
ciple which may well be sacred to that purpose alone, since 
the language of no other being will need its application 7 
Could we have heard him forgiving sins; asserting his 
right to do so, ' even upon earth ; ' summoning the world 
to yield up its heart to him ; to make its homage to the Fa- 
ther a pattern of its homage to him ; could we have heard 
this without feeling that God must be present in the person 
of the mysterious speaker, that the throne of Deity must 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 127 

be, in a sense, removed from heaven to earth? Could we 
have heard him emphatically call himself the Son of man, 
and solemnly announce that there is a sense in which the 
Father is greater than he, without feeling that it was an 
announcement which a mere creature could never have 
thought it necessary to make, and wondering at the great- 
ness which could excuse and justify such statements? 

Had we been the individuals to whose retirement under 
the fig-tree he was privy ; whose history he disclosed at 
the well of Samaria ; to whose unuttered thoughts he often 
adverted and replied, as others reply to our words, and to 
whom he pledged his unceasing presence, wherever we 
might be scattered, or whenever we might meet ; should 
we not have felt the natural impossibility of leaving the 
presence of such a being, and have yielded to the impres- 
sive thought, the unavoidable inference, that he who stood 
before us in mysterious combination with a nature like our 
own, was at the same moment present, in his superior na- 
ture, in regions immeasurably remote from earth — the 
sovereign and uncircumscribed energy of the universe ? 
He defended his alleged breach of the sabbatic law, by af- 
firming that in his providential capacity, like the eternal 
Father, he knew no sabbath ; that as the soundness of the 
man he had restored was the result of his healing power, 
so the repose of the universe was the result of his un- 
intermitting activity conjointly with the Father. With the 
same unaffected simplicity and ease, he both acknowledged 
inferiority to God, and claimed equality with him ; and 
promised to every christian, in the Father's name, ' We 
will come unto him and make our abode with him.' Now 
could we have heard these new and diverse statements from 
his lips, without feeling that the being who advanced them 
was a new form of existence ; that in his person, time and 
eternity, infinity and limitation, laws the most opposite, met 



128 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

and were reconciled ; that we beheld in him the grand an- 
omaly of infinite majesty clothed with meekness ; supreme 
dominion rendering obedience ; absolute sovereignty, ex- 
hibiting entire resignation ; God, manifest in the flesh ? 

Prophecy had created the expectation of an illustrious 
Deliverer, for whom a class of descriptive names had been 
hallowed, and for ages embalmed, and set apart, as sacred 
to him alone. The Messiah or Christ ; the Son of man ; 
the So?i of God ; were apellations as incommunicable, if 
not as awful, as the solemn Jah, or Jehovah, of the Supreme 
Being ; for they described a person and an office of an or- 
der so entirely unique, as to make all participation or re- 
semblance impossible, by engrossing to itself every thing 
peculiar to it. Jesus came, appropriated these honors to 
himself as his proper right, and wore them with such an 
air of accordant ease as to make them his own, with such 
a port of unlabored majesty as to translate them into an 
obvious and sober description of himself. If his right to 
assume them was challenged, his defence was prompt and 
complete ; he pleaded the sublimity of his doctrine ; ap- 
pealed to the superiority of his life ; referred to the admit- 
ted testimony of the Baptist ; pointed attention to the voice 
from heaven ; invited a comparison of his history with the 
prophecies concerning the Messiah, declaring that his life 
would be found to be a faithful comment on the sacred text; 
and called for his miracles — a splendid array of evidence, 
which forced even from demons the unwilling recogni- 
tion of his claims, and left unbelief without any cloke for 
its sin. 

II. Thus warranted by the constitution of his person, 
and standing on a mountainous accumulation of evidence, 
which enabled him to speak as from the skies, he proposed 
himself to our affection and faith as the unveiled char- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 129 

acter of God. This may be regarded as his grand, orig- 
inal and all-comprehending claim. 

1. Were it relevant to our subject, we might show, first, 
that the actions of Jesus evinced the existence of God. 
Had man never previously heard, never entertained the 
conception of a Supreme Being, the miracles of Christ 
would have inevitably suggested and embodied the grand 
idea. But he appeared among a people with whom this 
was already a primary truth. Besides, the scripture has 
nothing to say to the man who denies it ; only this, that is 
1 the fool who saith within his heart, there is no God ; ' and 
' that the devils believe and tremble.' The existence of the 
Deity is a truth fundamental of every other ; it is the throne 
of religion : and it would ill comport with the composed 
majesty and stately grandeur of religion to be constantly 
proving or protesting that it has a throne. He who denies 
the divine existence, renounces by that very act his own 
humanity ; falls out of the ranks of rational beings and 
courts community and fellowship with brutes. Accord- 
ingly, religion while it condescends to follow him to the 
outermost limits of rationality, and thus maintains its char- 
acter for compassion ; yet remembering the state and hon- 
ors due to its throne, it abandons him there, and proceeding 
in its onward march through an empire of intelligent be- 
ings, receives their homage, and perfects their intelligence 
by re-uniting it with the divine mind. 

2. As the representative of Deity in this lower world, 
the Savior by his incarnation, embodied the divine spiritu- 
ality. ' Ye have neither heard his voice at any time,' said 
Christ, ' nor seen his shape ; ' shape, outline, dimensions, 
he has none ; as an infinite spirit he can have none. How 
then can we think of him 1 for unless we can obtain some 
sensible manifestation, or definite conception of him, we 
have nothing around which our thoughts can collect, or on 

8 




130 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

which our affections can settle and rest ; he will elude an 
escape our laboring apprehensions. It is in vain to allege, 
that the sublimest material representation can hear no pro- 
portion to his glory, no relation to his nature ; and, conse- 
quently, that it could not fail to impart to the mind unwor- 
thy conceptions of his greatness. Without some sensible 
representation of the divine being, the understanding can 
make no approach to him, the affections have nothing to 
embrace : faith itself, like the dove of the deluge, has noth- 
ing on which he can alight ; it finds itself voyaging in an 
objectless universe, an infinite vacuity; and piety must 
suffer and pine as in an atmosphere too subtle and unsub- 
stantial for its present earthly constitution. 

This feeling of want, this ardent craving after a definite 
object which the mind can lay hold of and apprehend, has 
been the most frequent occasion of idolatry and atheism. 
The doctrine of an infinite spirit was the only pure abstrac- 
tion in the human mind : all other things were objects ; 
had their appropriate images, and the power of imprinting 
themselves upon the mind, by sensible impressions ; while 
this, standing in the mind solitary and aloof, subject to the 
antagonist influence and constant encroachment of materi- 
al objects, was unable alone to maintain its ground, and in 
perpetual danger of being displaced and lost from the mind. 
And hence, instead of making this doctrine a place of rest, 
men have made it a starting point to one of two extremes; 
they have either proceeded to refine on the nature of Deity 
till they have reached transcendental atheism, an infinite 
nothing ; or else, advancing in the opposite direction, they 
have brought him within the sphere of the senses, and em- 
bodied him in the work of their own hands. Every erro- 
neous view of God which the world has entertained, was 
either scepticism, arrived at one or other of its numerous 
stages, in its way to atheism ; or else, it was idolatry rest- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 131 

ing awhile, at one or other of its stages, on its way to the 
opposite issue. From the moment that the doctrine of an 
infinite essence has at any time, heen deposited in the hu- 
man mind, it has begun to evaporate ; and while the scep- 
tic, on the one hand, rejoiced in the vacuum which en- 
sued ; and the idolater, on the other, found or feigned a 
residuum which he took and moulded into a god ; they both 
concurred, at least, in this one sentiment — that the theory 
of an infinite spirit yields no repose to the intellect, nor ob- 
ject for the affections. 

Passing by the peculiar provisions of the patriarchal 
church, we cannot hesitate to regard the Jewish economy, 
in part, as a temporary but elaborate construction for aid- 
ing the mind in its conceptions of a purely spiritual being. 
All the angelic visits, and supernatural appearances, with 
which that church was favored, answered this end. It en- 
joyed a local manifestation of the Deity : the cloud of glo- 
ry that dwelt within the veil, resided there as a temporary 
substitute till he should appear in whom would dwell all 
the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; and, probably, most 
of those devotional expressions, in the Old Testament, 
which raise our thoughts to heaven, only carried the 
thoughts of the Israelites within the veil. The whole of 
their worship was a presentiment and promise of the ap- 
proaching manifestation of God in Christ ; and not merely 
a promise of it, but an actual provision to aid them in lifting 
their thoughts to God, and conceiving of the divine personal- 
ity, till that more glorious manifestation should take place. 

Behold, in Christ, the image of the invisible God! 
Having left the bosom of the Father, and embodied the at- 
tributes of God in an incarnate form, he came forth, and 
stood before the world, and proclaimed himself the perma- 
nent, adequate, apprehensible representation of the invisi- 
ble Deity. ' I am in the Father,' said he, ' and the Father 



132 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

in me.' ' From henceforth ye know the Father, and hare 
seen him.' ' He that hath seen me hath seen the Father 
also.' ' I and my Father are one.' It is true, that he is 
no longer cognizant to our senses ; but having assumed an 
incarnate form, is evermore visible to the eye of faith ; he 
can never ascend beyond the flight of the sanctified imag- 
ination. And if imagination be an attribute of the mind, 
and Christ be entitled to the homage of all our powers, 
then to depicture his person and pourtray his glory, is not 
merely legitimate, but the most suitable and exalted object 
on which it is possible for the imagination to be employ- 
ed. When he ascended up, ' and a cloud received him 
out of their sight,' were his disciples never more to think 
of God as manifest in the flesh ? They are directed to 
look at the things which are not seen, to place them before 
their mental eye in the most vivid imagery ; and of all 
the imaginable and illustrious objects in the temple above, 
he surely stands central and supreme. In order to inflame 
our affections, and carry our imaginations with him, he af- 
fords us glimpses of his offices and relations in heaven, 
and prays that we may behold his glory ; thus making 
that glory, henceforth, the appropriate and engrossing ob- 
ject of evangelical faith. 

Nor, in thus yielding to the dictates of piety, and the 
claims of Christ, can we be charged with worshipping 
his human nature. Though that nature is exalted above 
the whole creation ; though it is crowned with glory and 
honor ; though the fulness of the Godhead is in it ; though 
it forms even a part of the person of God, yet the object 
we adore, is he to whom that nature is hypostatically unit- 
ed, and who stooped to that union expressly that he might 
become a more palpable and definite object of our love* 
He invites us to draw near and contemplate this great sight; 
and, on approaching, we behold the invisible God invested 
in the robes of humanity, and emitting a glory so softened 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 133 

and subdued that our eyes can rest on it without dismay ; ' 
in. all our endeavors to raise our thoughts to God, the idea 
of Jesus comes to our aid, like the mystic ladder of the 
patriarch's dream, and they ascend and descend upon the 
Son of man. In all our acts of sincere devotion, we be- 
hold him by faith, standing betwixt us and the eternal 
throne, waiting to meet our flagging and half-way efforts, 
to assist us up the laborious ascent, to raise and present our 
spiritual offerings ; or, if our devotion ascends still higher 
to him that sits upon the throne, whom do we there behold 
but the image of the still invisible God, the Lamb in the 
midst of the throne. He is the great ordinance by which 
God and man commune together ; the appointed place of 
meeting between God and human thoughts ; for as all the 
lines of the divine manifestation converge and meet in him, 
so all our devotional thoughts and affections centre in him 
also. And there is, we think, ground to believe that he 
will sustain this relation for ever ; that whatever may be 
the modification of the present economy, when throwing 
off the accidents and relations of time, it shall retain only 
the elements and receive the impress of eternity, yet he, as 
the light of heaven and the temple thereof, will remain the 
sole manifestation of Deity, to which every eye will be di- 
rected and every heart be drawn ; that no angel or saint 
will ever know aught of the invisible God, but as it is 
brought forth and unveiled in the adorable person of Christ. 
Of the future visibility of tbe divine essence, indeed, we 
would speak with unaffected diffidence; but the prayer of 
Christ, that his people may be with him where he is to be- 
hold his glory, while it discloses the chief ingredient of ce- 
lestial blessedness, makes known also the conspicuous ob- 
ject of heavenly contemplation. By adopting our nature 
into a personal subsistence with his own divinity, he has 
given a centre, if we may say so, to the uncircumscribed 



134 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

essence of the Deity, and has prepared a spectacle for the 
universe, resembling, but ineffably transcending, the angel 
standing in the midst of the sun. 

3. But chiefly did he rest his claims to the regards of 
the world, on the ground that he was the adequate repre- 
sentative of the divine character. The condition of the 
world had rendered the advent of such a being, and the in- 
stitution of such an office indispensably necessary. The 
knowledge of the divine character is the great conserva- 
tive principle of holiness, and the bulwark of human hap- 
piness : and it was the persuasion of this fact, which led 
the enemy of man to make that knowledge the object of his 
first assault. He knew that, dispossessed of this we should 
be divested of all our strength, and the ready dupes of 
every artifice he might choose to practise. And the aw- 
ful results of his enterprise have proved the truth of his 
calculations, and must surely have gratified to the full his 
boundless appetite for human destruction. Planting him- 
self between God and man, he sought to intercept every 
beam from heaven, and to throw his awful shadow across 
the earth ; the gloom of his presence fell, like a pall over 
human hope, involving us in darkness that might be felt. 
It is true, there were many unobliterated traces of God to 
be found in creation, but these related chiefly to his natural 
greatness: his moral perfections could only be deduced 
from his own supernatural disclosures ; and these as they 
existed among the Jews, were intentionally imperfect. 
Truths, the most vital, wore the form of enigmas ; the 
church was local and limited ; the moral law was oppres- 
sed and borne down by the ceremonial ; the sensible was 
appealed to more than the intellectual, sight more than 
faith ; sin was only ceremonially atoned for ; the eternal 
future was but dimly seen; and the divine perfections 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 135 

only hinted at. Theirs was an economy which professed 
not to be day, but only the dawn and promise of a day. 

The office of revealing and representing the character ■■ 
of the Deity was reserved for him who had been from eter- 
nity in the bosom of the Father ; the image of the invisi- 
ble God. What no verbal description could pourtray, what 
no image in creation could represent, what the loftiest 
seraph in heaven would have shrunk from under a sense 
of infinite inadequacy, that Christ undertook, professed, 
and accomplished — to bless the world with a living, actual, 
adequate impersonation of the supreme God. It was ex- 
pressly for this that he stooped to employ the organs and 
faculties of a human being ; for it was only by adopting 
that appropiate but humble expedient that he could make 
himself visible and familiar to our eyes, while working 
out and embodying the character of infinite love. Array- 
ed in a body which God had prepared and not man, he 
challenged to himself the exclusive power of unveiling 
the divine perfections ; ' No man,' said he, * knoweth the 
Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son 
shall reveal him.' He took, as it became him, the high- 
est ground ; for he felt that he held the salvation of the 
world in his hand ; that the illumination of mankind was 
entirely at his discretion : that, at that moment, the fulness 
of the Godhead was in him ; and that had he decided it 
should remain there concealed, the unrelieved darkness of 
the world would have been made eternal, and man must 
have perished in ignorance of God. 

That he came to show us the Father is evident from con- 
siderations such as these : first, he claimed to be regarded 
as the habitation of Deity. ' Destroy this temple,' said he, 
1 and in three days I will raise it again ; ' ' He spake of 
the temple of his body.' To constitute a place, or a per- 
son, a temple, the indwelling presence of Jehovah is the pri- 



136 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

mary requisite. The Jews could have had no conception of 
a temple apart from this ; for in the holiest of all, Jehovah 
had dwelt as in his earthly palace, enthroned in veiled and 
unapproachable splendor : nor could Jesus have intended to 
claim less than this for the sanctuary of his body, without 
offering violence to modes of thinking which had become 
sacred, and to associations the most precious. On another 
occasion, when standing in the holy place, he affirmed, ' I 
say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the tem- 
ple ; ' he said this while perfectly aware that the hallowed 
object Avith which he compared himself was, in their eyes, 
the image of every thing magnificent and divine ; that it 
was their heaven upon earth ; that they allowed nothing 
to surpass the temple except the God who dwelt in it ; but 
he could add, the Father is in we, in a sense which justified 
the comparison, and which turned even the symbolic glory 
which descended at the dedication into eclipse and dark- 
ness. Had the vision of Isaiah been repeated, ' when he 
saw his glory and spake of him,' it could have made no 
addition to the greatness he already derived from the per- 
sonal inhabitation of the Deity. Had Moses and Elijah, 
attended by all the heirarchal orders of the Jewish church 
of every age, descended as on Tabor, and laid their official 
honors at his feet, it would have been only an augmenta- 
tion of his glory in declaration and appearance. If, on 
entering his ' Father's house,' an invisible hand had poured 
out all its wealth before him ; had all its symbols of power 
and office taken life and form, and settled upon him; had 
all its priests departed, its fires become extinct, and the last 
wreath of incense mounted to heaven ; had its ancient 
shekinah from within the veil, emerged and enthroned 
itself on his brow : and had all its angel-guards made 
themselves visible, and fallen into his train, the enactment 
of the scene would have been only the homage of a splen- 
did pageant paid to a glory unlimited and divine. The 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 137 

glorious train of the divine perfections had come down and 
filled the temple of his humanity. Truth was seated in 
his lips ; and thence gave forth in abundance unsolicited 
oracles, such as mortal ears had never before heard, nor 
the records of heavenly wisdom themselves contained. His 
heart was an altar on which infinite love could visibly 
burn ; and in which it found for itself a sacrifice as costly 
and congenial as its soul could desire. Goodness and 
power employed him, to assert their majesty, by bending 
all things to the furtherance of human happiness. In his 
breast, mercy may be said to have held her court ; and in 
his looks of compassion, which were always bent over hu- 
man misery, to have found the most prevailing advocates 
and intercessors. Holiness could dispense with an ark 
and tables to contain its laws ; for in his life its enshrined 
glory was made so transparent, that even demons confessed 
him to be the Holy One of God. While justice, which 
had asked only an equivalent for the wrong it had sustain- 
ed at the hands of man, found that the illustrious victim 
was the living temple itself; that though replenished 
throughout with the presence of Deity, the whole sanctu- 
ary w r as one entire propitiatory. Like the moveable sanc- 
tuary which accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness, 
he was the tabernacle of witness ; having been made flesh, 
he came and set up his tabernacle in the midst of the hu- 
man encampment, pitched his tent side by side with our 
tents, to attest the presence of God, to make us familiar 
with his character and sensible of his love. The great 
inscription of Immanuel, God with us, was so legible on 
every part, that the thoughtful and reverent could not raise 
their eye to Christ, without being conscious of feelings of 
reverence and awe, like those awakened by the sight of a 
temple. Even the godless and profane, who armed them- 
selves and went out to destroy this temple, were repeatedly 



138 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

abashed as they drew near, and forgot their purpose ; dis- 
armed and ravished at the sight of its divine magnificence, 
they remained awhile to worship, and then returned to con- 
fess their admiration ; occasionally, they beheld the shrine 
of his humanity flooded with light, bathed in the glory of 
the present Deity ; a glory which was obviously attemper- 
ed and designed to make man in love with God, for it was 
full of grace and truth. 

Secondly, his frequent declarations that he had received 
universal empire, can only be construed as meant to estab- 
lish his representative claims. Affirmations to this effect, 
he uttered in terms such as these : ' All things are deliv- 
ered unto me of my Father ; all things that the Father 
hath are mine ; all power is given unto me in heaven and 
on earth.' Now for what adequate, what assignable rea- 
son could this mighty transfer have been made ? this trans- 
fer of all things into the hands of the incarnate Savior, if 
not for the purpose of employing and making them known 1 ? 
Concealment could not possibly be the object of giving 
him this infinite treasure ; for that end might have been 
equally answered by allowing it to remain where it had 
been from eternity — shut up in the bosom of God. But it 
was committed to him with a commission to make it known; 
it was given to him. like light to the sun, with a command 
to shine and turn our darkness into day. 

That he was the ordained medium of the divine glory, 
is apparent thirdly, from his ' Making himself equal with 
God.' The fact that he did this, is here assumed : the ob- 
ject he aimed at, could have only one alternative; for if it 
was not to aggrandize himself at the expense of the Deity, 
to sink the character of the Divine Being in the eyes of 
the world, and to erect his own pretensions on its ruins, 
his sole design must have been to furnish an adequate man- 
ifestation of the supreme excellence. That this alone was 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 139 

his aim is obvious ; for if he ever for a moment intermit- 
ted his endeavor to enlarge our views of that excellence, it 
was only to realize the conceptions which his words had 
awakened, by giving to them life and form in godlike deeds. 
The same end is evident, fourthly, from his uniformly 
referring every thing good and gracious he did to the love 
of God. It is true, that in exalting the character of God, 
he was virtually magnifying his own ; for they are strictly 
identical. But as far as his own claims, as Mediator, are 

l 

distinct from those of the invisible God, he laid himself out 
to aggrandize the paternal character. Take, as an exam- 
ple, the declaration in which he ascribes his advent to the 
fact, that God loved the world. Had he attributed his 
coming to his own love, the representation would have been 
most literally true ; but he would have us to see in it noth- 
ing but the love of God. Bent on alluring us to God, by 
filling our mind with a vast conception of paternal grace, 
he would have us to refer his own incarnation, with all its 
attendant blessings, entirely to the grace of God. He was 
content to conceal himself, to merge his own claims, as far 
as that is consistent with the laws of mediation, that he 
might occupy the whole of our field of vision with the 
perfections of God. 

And that such was his distinguished office is apparent, 
fifthly, from declarations which are all but express on the 
subject. In his intercessory prayer, for instance, he de- 
clared, - 1 have manifested thy name ; I have glorified thee 
on earth ; I have finished the work which thou gavest me 
to do.' Language, which intimates that the supreme ob- 
ject of his coming into the world had been to illustrate the 
glorious character of God; and that having done this, he 
considered his work on earth as accomplished. 



140 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

III. It now becomes an interesting and essential part of 
our business, to trace his mode of divine manifestation. 
As the word of God, he partly employed the medium of 
oral instruction. And had he sustained the character of 
a prophet only, had he added no actions to his words, the 
clearness, unction, and fulness of his teaching were such, 
that the most evangelical writers of the Old Testament 
might have envied a place at his feet, and have exclaimed 
with the disciples, * Lord, to whom shall we go 1 thou 
hast the words of eternal life.' 

But a verbal representation of the Divine Being, even 
though it had come direct from the depths of the excellent 
glory, would have been totally inadequate to the ends pro- 
posed; and yet more than this would have been ' above all 
that we can ask or think.' Actions alone could adequate- 
ly set forth the grace of him, whose natural greatness is 
such, that a celestial alphabet, a glorious arrangement of 
characters composed of an infinite number of suns and sys- 
tems, is requisite to express it. The acts of Christ were a 
system of sublime hieroglyphics, every part of which stood 
for some glorious aspect of the divine character ; while, 
of that system, his words were meant to furnish us with 
the key and interpretation. Actions, it is proverbial, speak 
louder than words : his actions spoke with a voice which 
unbelief itself, though it had stopped its ears, could not re- 
sist, and which made itself to be heard, even by many who 
were dead in sin ; a voice which, beginning at his incarna- 
tion, went on increasing through all his godlike deeds of 
power and iove, waxing louder and louder through the 
successive stages of his sufferings and death, his resurrec- 
tion and ascension, till the Lord went up with a shout j and 
which still continues to swell in volume and power, as he 
goes on to work out the character of God, and evolve the 
glorious purposes of grace, filling heaven and earth, the 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 141 

Illimitable temple of the universe, with the echoes of the 
grand announcement — that God is love. 

1. Speaking to the mind by sensible representations, 
was a striking characteristic even of our Lord's ordinary 
teaching. A memorable instance occurred in his reply to 
the messengers of John, when they came to inquire, ' Art 
thou he that should come; or do we look for another? 
And in the same hour he cured many of their infirmities, 
and plagues, and of evil spirits ; and unto many that were 
blind he gave sight. Then said Jesus unto them, Go your 
way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard.' 
He foresaw the moment when these disciples would arrive, 
and he prepared for it ; he knew the object of their visit, 
and he arrayed his demonstrations accordingly. And 
what were his preparations ? a company of the blind, the 
deaf, the leprous, the demonaical, the dying ; these were 
Collected around him, and formed the materials on which 
he proposed to work ; this was the selection of misery, 
the mass of disease and death on which he designed to 
breathe, and create it anew. The messengers drew nigh, 
and he made bare his arm : they arrived, and asked him 
to decide the question of his Messiahship ; forthwith they 
received his reply in a series of stupendous miracles. He 
spoke, and the deaf heard his voice ; he spoke again, and 
the blind opened their eyes on the blessed light of day ; 
he put forth his hand, and the crimson fever faded at his 
touch ; he looked on the dying, and they rose and were 
strong ; he called to the phrenzied demoniac, and madness 
itself fell down and worshipped him. 'There,' said he, 
4 behold my reply ! Go, and tell John what things ye have 
seen and heard, and abide by the right interpretation of 
them.' 

Similar to this was his reply, when Philip requested to 
behold the Father. ' Jesus answered, Have I been so long 



« 



142 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

time with you, and yet hast thou not known me Philip % 

he that hath seen me hath seen the Father from 

henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 5 The desire 
of the disciple to behold the sum of all excellence, is the 
last effort, the noblest aspiration of the human mind. The 
prompt, detailed, and definite reply of Christ, showed his 
high estimate of its importance, and his desire to give 
it a final answer. This he did, by calling attention to 
himself; he did not rebuke the desire of being shown the 
Father, but instantly and completely gratified it by show- 
ing himself; while the only rebuke which his words con- 
veyed, was a tender reproach for that mental obtuseness 
which could ask for a supplement to perfection, which could 
look for additions to his own divinity, or think of the pa- 
ternal character and existence as detached from his own ; 
a remonstrance for the want of that spiritual intuition which 
should have discerned in him the concentration of the whole 
moral greatness, the great name of God. 

The exhibition of the divine character was an end so 
sublime, that nothing could for a moment divert his eye 
from it; every action and item of his life was referrible to 
this, and subsidiary to it. In all he did, he intuitively saw 
how the Father would have done it, and he immediately 
embodied and realized the conception. The power which 
had replenished the universe with worlds and beings, em- 
ployed his human arms, and unbent itself in acts of heal- 
ing mercy. Omniscience, looking through his eyes, spoke 
of the future as if it were present, and perused at pleasure 
the secrets of every heart. As the centre of the Presence 
which fills immensity, and the seat of the will to which 
all things are possible, he proved himself present where he 
was not seen ; issued his fiat to distant objects, and received 
obedience to a mere volition. He made all-sufficience in- 
telligible and familar, by calling for things that were not 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 143 

and they came ; by making" the capacity of the recipients 
the only measure of his impartations ; and by the sponta- 
neous emanation of a virtue which went out of him, and 
healed them all. Had the star which led the Magi to his feet 
been actually brought from a distant system, it would only 
have been a faint illustration of the way in which he 
brought the perfections of God under the cognizance of 
man. Those properties of the divine greatness from which 
previously we had seemed to stand at an infinite remoteness, 
he brought near, and domesticated, and encouraged us to 
consider them henceforth as our own. 

2- ' As the Father gave me commandment, so I do.' 
Such were the significant terms with which the Savior pre- 
faced his godlike deeds, as, completing one stage in his 
career of mercy, he advanced and addressed himself to 
another. * This commandment have I received of my Fa- 
ther ;' in other words, ' In all I do, I am only consulting the 
will, and fulfilling the designs of the eternal Father ; so 
that the history of my earthly life will be the exact record 
of his purposes towards man, and the adequate manifesta- 
tion of his divine perfections. 3 Thus interpreted, all have 
an infinite moral ; — of which this is a point and essence — 
that God would vanquish us by love. Did he come forth 
from the Father 1 it was to annihilate the distance, to bring 
us across the gulf which sin had created between God and 
us, to place us in the domains of mercy, and within reach r 
of the tree of life. Did he join himself to our nature? it 
was to show us that God would have us to be in the clos- 
est union with himself, and that as we cannot possibly be 
happy without him, so neither can his love be satisfied 
without us ; that he is bent on reclaiming a race of crea- 
tures who, though they once rejoiced in him, have been 
lost from his embrace, and of attaching them to himself by 
a tie as new and astonishing to the universe, as it is proof 



144 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

against all the dissevering powers of sin. He lived among 
us, consuming himself in acts of self-denial and labors of 
love; it was to teach us that God is always living with us, 
that he is an inmate of every dwelling, tasting every earth- 
ly sorrow, and regarding our wants as the natural chan- 
nels for his fulness to flow in and replenish. 

3. The motto of every divine dispensation to man has 
been the same, God is love. The original apostacy com- 
menced in the disbelief and denial of this truth; for it is 
only by clearly discerning and cordially believing it, that 
we remain in a state of allegiance to God. But if infinite 
benevolence was considered problematical by man prior to 
the fall, by what unimaginable expedient shall the problem 
be demonstrated to him, now that he looks on every thing 
that comes from God through a medium of enmity? And 
yet this very truth did Jesus adopt as his motto ; this very 
question he undertook to work out, and set at rest for ever. 
To convince us, therefore, that there was no dissentient 
principle in the character of God, that every property of 
the divine nature consented and subscribed to this declara- 
tion of infinite love to man, it remained that as these per- 
fections had been already displayed separately, they should 
now be all collected and concentrated, and put forth in 
some mighty act of grace, in some definite, overwhelming, 
all-comprehensive deed of love. This, and ineffably more 
than this, was effected in the decease which he accomplish- 
ed at Jerusalem. On his way to that ancient theatre of the 
divine perfections, declarations such as these were con- 
stantly on his lips ; ' As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the son of Man be lifted up ; that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
eternal life.' ' God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life.' ' I lay down my life 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 145 

for my sheep.' ' I give my flesh for the life of the world.' 
*I give my life a ransom for many.' ■ This command- 
ment have I received of my Father.' Here was power, 
nerving his arm, and declaring that it would show itself 
in him mighty to save. Here was wisdom, with its un- 
folded plan of redemption, calling admiration to its amaz- 
ing details : and faithfulness, honoring and accepting its 
ancient engagements : and holiness pressing to its heart the 
violated law, and meditating for its illustrious honors ; and 
love, rejoicing to find itself thus supported; speaking as 
confidently as if its task were already achieved ; bidding 
the world look up and smile ; and giving away provinces 
and thrones in its prospective kingdom. 

Having thus taught us to refer his death to the divine 
benignity, having placed his cross in a line with the light 
of the divine countenance, so that on beholding the one we 
may be drawn to gaze on the other, he poured out his soul 
unto death. He showed us that, while the hatred of God 
against sin is strong as death, his love to sinners is yet 
stronger than death. He brought to an issue the momen- 
tous question, which had been kept open since the fall — 
whether or not God is light and love. The satanic agita- 
tion of this parent truth was the origin of human aliena- 
tion from God. And having once brought it into question 
in the human mind, and thereby sown the seeds of enmity 
against God, it only remained for the father of lies to water 
those deadly seeds, in order to reap the fruit of a contin- 
ued triumph against the Supreme. Besides, by widening 
the breach which existed between earth and heaven, Sa- 
tan might calculate on the possibility of at length realiz- 
ing his own lie, of wearing out the goodness which only 
encountered abuse, of extinguishing the last spark of love 
in the breast of God, and of exasperating justice to doom 
and destroy the whole species. Every moment of four 

9 



146 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

thousand years, therefore, he had turned to account, in fo- 
menting the aversion of man to God. By a vast, unslum- 
bering, and complicated system, the whole agency of evil 
had been kept in motion, and made to bear upon man, ad- 
dressing itself to every passion, and entrenching itself in 
every heart ; so that, in a sense more than figurative, the 
world, the entire mass of humanity, was subjected to a de- 
moniacal possession. 

Under such tutelage, (how could it be otherwise ?) every 
dispensation and event was interpreted against God. Sig- 
nals of reconciliation were hung out from heaven ; treaties 
were set on foot ; but men scowled back defiance, and ex- 
claimed, ' Depart from us ; we desire not the knowledge of 
thy ways.' Messenger after messenger was dispatched to 
entreat their attention, ' but they beat one, and stoned anoth- 
er, and killed another.' During the whole tract of time, 
the principle of human hatred had gone on growing in in- 
tensity, collecting its materials of war, and daily augment- 
ing in strength till it had reached so gigantic and threaten- 
ing a form, that if it was to be vanquished by love and not 
by power, it was evident that love must put forth its might 
in an act unparalleled, unimaginable, and infinite. Such an 
act was resolved on. Voices from heaven announced it. 
Calvary was selected for the eventful scene. On the part 
of God, appeared his only begotten Son, wearing the form 
of a human being: against him, came hell and earth ; all 
the nursed and ancient hatred of the human heart, and all 
the immemorial enmity which had formed the atmosphere 
of hell, were there, collected and concentrated against him. 
Love and hatred confronted each other. At that moment, 
of. all thepassions and principles in the universe, these two 
antagonist powers alone remained. All the diversified 
sentiments and emotions of created natures were ranged 
under, or resolved into one of these two principles. And 



HIS ORIGINALITY. . 147 

while the object of the one was to unite its whole force in a 
blow which should need no repetition, to throw all its ac- 
cumulated vengeance into one annihilating- stroke ; it was 
the aim of the other, by receiving that stroke, to let the 
strength of its foe be exhausted, to vanquish it by submis- 
sion, to reduce it to a state of silence and shame, at finding 
its powers and weapons all spent, while yet the object of its 
rage stood unimpaired, and even seemed by wounding to 
acquire strength. 

And what was the sublime result % ' Ye know the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' As the demands of our 
hatred increased, his love rose with them : we aimed at his 
heart ; and he promptly bared it to receive the stroke ; and, 
behold, it was inscribed with the names of his enemies : we 
sought his life ; 'but,' said he, ' I lay it down of myself,' 
'and he gave up the ghost;' so quick was he in anticipat- 
ing the fatal blow, that he even forestalled death by the 
speed with which he voluntarily surrendered his spirit : 
we demanded his blood ; but no sooner had his side been 
pierced then forthwith came there out blood and water — a 
twofold evidence of his death ; if not also a symbol of the 
twofold element of pardon and purity, and an emblem of 
the fulness with which the treasury of his heart pours forth 
more than we ask or think. 

4. One might have supposed that the cross of Christ, as 
the great illustration of divine grace, would have been left 
to stand alone ; that even he, whose name is Love, would 
not have thought of enhancing its attractions by any sub- 
sidiary aids. As the focal point of his divine benevolence, 
the cross of Christ is the jewel, of which all the created 
universe is only the setting : by what possible accompani- 
ments, then, can its attractions be enhanced ? He, who can 
challenge perfection for all his works, whose minutest pro- 
ductions are known by their exquisite finish, would allow 



148 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

no circumstance to be wanting, which could grace and 
complete his masterwork. By praying for his execution- 
ers, and, still more, by dispensing salvation to the dying 
malefactor, he showed, that, while dying for all, he was 
distinctly mindful of the exigencies of each. His cross 
was surrounded by a mass of the darkest elements of hu- 
man depravity — -a specimen of the gross, the condensed 
impiety which in every age would collect around it, to de- 
ride, or to pray ; but it became vocal with prayer, and gave 
forth an element of spiritual life; surrounding itself with 
an element of light and love which none could approach, 
without approaching at the same time a personal change. 
By associating Christ, in his death, w T ith the condemned 
malefactors, the object of the Jews was to add the last shade 
of disgrace to his holy name ; and had it been their aim to 
select such as, besides being the refuse of the vile, were 
the least likely to catch what they might call the infection 
of his character, they could not probably have selected 
two human beings more proof against the impressions of 
moral excellence. By saving one of these, therefore, in 
the hour of his own death, he created the most affecting 
and unlooked-for illustration of the love of God ; he show- 
ed that whatever light might then be suffering eclipse, the 
solar fervor of that love could know no abatement ; he 
caused to meet, in the same moment, the crowning act 
of human guilt in his own crucifixion, and the crowning act 
of divine benevolence in the salvation of one of the guilti- 
est of our race. He thus erected a monument, in the face 
of the world, to the transcendant love of God ; a monument 
which, from its position close by the cross, could not fail to 
be seen by every penitent eye which in after times should 
be pointed to the Lamb of God bearing on it this inscrip- 
tion, • Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ; 
even the chief 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 149 

5. Had the history of Christ only taught us that sin] 
may be successfully resisted, and the world overcome, even 
that would have laid us under vast obligation. But having 
assumed our nature, and espoused our cause, he looked on 
our enemies as his own ; he challenged and assailed them in 
our name. He laid not down his life, till he could say of 
the conflict, It is finished ; he retired not from the scene of 
blood, till he could say to his followers, ' Be of good cheer, 
I have overcome.' His resurrection from the dead rolled 
away the stone from the tomb of human hope. Having 
carried our nature triumphantly through all the evils that 
can assail it ; having collected at his feet the chains and 
weapons which were meant for us — all the instruments and 
spoils of sin — he would have us to know, that henceforth 
we have nothing to dread from our spiritual foes; since, in 
the same way, he will carry us triumphantly through all 
the ranks of hell, and the dominions of the grave, and will 
bring us into the rest that remaineth for the people of God. 

6. Subsequent to his resurrection, the commission which 
he gave to his apostles, to publish ' repentance and remis- 
sion of sins in his name, among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem? showed him still inventive of new illustrations of 
the divine love. It was the act of a most clement sove- 
reign, who, bent on convincing his rebellious subjects of 
the sincerity of his desire to replace them in his favor, 
should take some of the most traitorous among them, load 
them with honors, instate them into the highest offices, 
and then send them forth into the camp of the revolted to 
proclaim his grace to the chief of the disaffected, and bear- 
ing in their hands an act of amnesty for all. ' Ye have 
not chosen me ; but I have chosen you, and ordained you, 
that ye should go and bring forth fruit.' They had lived 
in the closest alliance with those who had not only said, 
1 Come let us kill him ;' but who had actually prepetrated his 



150 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

death with acclamation, as a deed essential to their happi- 
ness. But having reclaimed them from their disobedience, 
and engaged their hearts, he took them into his counsels, 
heaped on them his royal favors, shared with them his 
prerogatives, gave them a joint interest with himself in the 
success of all his designs of grace, and then sent them 
forth to his foes with this injunction — that they should first 
visit the men who had slain him — should let it be seen 
how affluent he had made them in heavenly gifts, how un- 
limited the access they enjoyed to his divine treasury; at 
the same time exhibiting their commission, and inviting all 
to a community with themselves of these special privileges 
and grace. 

7. The most affectionate parent can only endow his 
child with the accidents of fortune, and operate on him by 
the uncertain influence of education and example. How- 
ever wise and virtuous he may be himself; and however 
he may yearn to share his piety with his beloved child, a 
communication of character is a transferrence which he 
cannot make. Every thing else he may succeed in im- 
parting, but here he has no prerogative. Christ not only 
gave himself for, but to, his disciples. ' He breathed on 
them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.' 
By this emblematic act, he signified, not merely the impar- 
tation of miraculous powers, but the inspiration of his 
sanctifying spirit, the vital transfusion of his own self into 
the souls of his people. He would have them to know, 
that henceforth, he and they can no more live a divided 
life; that he will live through their faculties, and act through 
their organs ; and that they must choose with his will, and 
act with his spirit ; that it may be no more they that live, 
but he that liveth in them. But, in all this, he would im- 
press them Avith the fact — that he is only giving to them 
the glory which the Father had given him, that both he 
and they might be one in God. 



HIS 0RGINALIT1. 151 

8. An original and important part of the Savior's teach- 
ing concerning himself, is that which relates to his office of 
intercession. Perhaps no part of the Jewish ceremonial 
was more impressive, or calculated to fill the imagination 
than the scene in which the High Priest passed within the 
veil on the great day of atonement. Every attendant cir- 
cumstance — the inviolable sanctity of the veil which the 
people dared not to approach, nor even the priests to touch, 
the fact that only one man of all the human race was per- 
mitted to lift that veil, and pass within — the rareness of 
that occurrence — for to him it was accessible only once a 
year— and the awful Being, the ineffable mystery that re- 
sided there — all conspired to fill the mind with emotions 
of the profoundest awe. On the morning of the appointed 
day, what must his feelings have been, when, having pre- 
sented the sin-offerings for himself and the people, he took 
the blood of the sacrifice, and the incense, and, followed by 
the anxious eyes of the breathless congregation, he pro- 
ceeded towards the awful recess — when he reflected that 
every step took him nearer to the visible presence of the in- 
comprehensible God — when he lifted up the veil with fear 
and trembling — when the veil closed on him, and left him 
alone with God — when his eye glanced at the mercy-seat, 
and saw the glory resting on it — when he advanced up to 
it, and instantly began to wave the incense before it, that it 
might forthwith be enveloped in a cloud, lest he should 
gaze on it, and perish — when he sprinkled the ark with 
the blood which he had brought in, and remembered the 
purity of the Being who commanded it, and the sinfulness 
of the beings which rendered it necessary — what a respon- 
sible office, at that moment, he filled ! and what vivid, sol- 
emn, and lasting impressions must the scene have left on 
every thoughtful worshipper ! 

This must have been true, even of that large majority 



152 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

whose views terminated on the passing ceremony, and who 
did ' not look unto the end of that which is abolished.' 
But how much more affecting must it have been to those 
who remembered that the scene they beheld • was only a 
figure for the time then present : ' and that solemn as it 
was, it would eventually give place to a reality inconceiv- 
ably more glorious. Let any one make the mental effort 
of transporting himself back into their circumstances, and 
he will find how impossible it was for the believers of that 
economy to conceive what the substance of that shadow, 
the reality of that figure was likely to be ; and he may 
also apprehend how much more impressive the sign must 
have been, from the very circumstance of their inability to 
decipher it. Doubtless, ' they searched diligently,' and 
pondered deeply, the meaning of the enigma ; and numer- 
ous and splendid may have been their conjectures of what 
would possibly be the reality. Of that reality it is our 
privilege to have been informed ; and so stupendous is its 
nature, that we feel assured, the sublimest preconceptions 
of man could not have come within an infinite distance of 
it. • We have a great High Priest who is passed into the 
heavens, Jesus the Son of God.' ■ Christ is not entered 
into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven it- 
self, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' ' By 
his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, hav- 
ing obtained eternal redemption for us.' 

The most copious account, indeed, of his divine interces- 
sion is to be found in the inspired epistles ; but the an- 
nouncement of the doctrine came originally and directly 
from his own lips. ' I will pray the Father? said he, 'and 
he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide 
with you for ever.' Concerning the mode of his interces- 
sion in heaven, it would not be relevant here to enlarge. 
But, unless the whole doctrine be a mere fiction of mercy, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 153 

(an idea at which every feeling* of piety revolts,) the first 
appearance of Jesus there, in his new capacity, must have 
been as invigorating to the worship of heaven, as it is en- 
couraging to the devotions of believers on earth. When 
he went from the place of sacrifice, and stood in the pres- 
ence of God for us ; when he arrived there, to find that 
the incense of his offering had preceded him, and had filled 
the entire temple with its odours ; that, as if impatient for 
his arrival, his throne was prepared, the hosts and orders 
of heaven marshalled for his reception, the splendid ranks 
and hierarchies destined for his future state and retinue 
waiting to do him homage ; and even the eternal Father 
himself, waiting with this grant of the world, this burst of 
infinite love on his lips, c Ask of me, and I will give thee 
the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for thy possession ; ' from that triumphant mo- 
ment in the history of grace, the services of heaven must 
have proceeded with new vigor, and every worshipper 
there have become conscious of a fresh motive, a crowning 
incentive to obedience. 

But, however this may be, all the encouragement which 
the intercession of Christ, as revealed in scripture, is cal- 
culated to afford, is intended to descend and alight in the 
heart of the earthly suppliant as he bends at the footstool 
of mercy. And what richer encouragement could the 
avarice of human fear, or our guilty unbelief, desire % 
What stronger warrant for coming boldly to the throne 
of grace could God himself supply 1 A faint illustration 
of this may be drawn from that part of the former econo- 
my, to which allusion has already been made — the feast 
of atonement. Suppose, among the thousands that came 
up to Jerusalem at that annual solemnity, a penitent Israel- 
ite entered the temple with fear and trembling. Like the 
publican that went up to the temple to pray, he is burden- 



154 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ed with a sense of enormous guilt ; he durst not lift up so 
much as his eyes to heaven ; he smites upon his hreast ; 
he would fain entreat for mercy, but he dreads lest, by doing' 
so, he should be chargeable with presumption. Now, 
when the High Priest went within the veil, how powerful- 
ly might this dejected and desponding penitent have been 
urged and entreated to lift up his voice to God for mercy. 
' It is true, you are a sinner ; ' a pious friend might have 
said to him ; * you cannot over-rate the awful aggravation 
of your guilt ; but then do not under-rate the mercy of 
God through an atonement. Has he not promised that, 
for the sake of a propitiatory sacrifice, he will certainly for- 
give our nation their iniquities? and are not you one of 
the nation ? and is not our High Priest now within the veil 
offering the blood of atonement ? O then now, now while he 
is there pleading in our behalf; now while God is in the 
act of accepting the offering ; now ask for remission ; and 
as far as the east is from the west, so far will he remove 
your transgressions from you.' What an encouragement 
was this to pray ! The application of all this is obvious. 
Suppose the intercession of Christ were at present un- 
known to you, unknown to the world. You have, let it be 
supposed, just emerged from the darkness of sin, into the 
light of truth. For the first time, you have caught a 
glimpse of your true condition as a transgressor against 
God. You feel that you are barely out of hell : your con- 
science, unused and a stranger to its office, labors to discharge 
in a moment, the accumulated duty of years ; repeats and 
even exasperates the accents of the violated law ; surrounds 
itself with an atmosphere as terrible as that of Sinai. But 
though God is the Being whose awful justice you have 
armed against you, his mercy you must sue for, and obtain, 
or perish. It is in vain for you to think of compensation, 
to plead your penitence, to promise amendment ; you can- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 155 

not in this way appease his wrath ; you must cast your- 
self on his free mercy, or perish. Do not think of excus- 
ing yourself from this act, by pleading that it would be 
presumption, an aggravation of your guilt, an invitation to 
ruin ; even if this were true, it is also true that to neglect 
it is destruction. If a single ray of hope be left you, it 
must come direct from the throne of God. 

From what quarter then shall we draw the encourage- 
ment which shall embolden you to approach the mercy- 
seat ? What is the condition on which you would consent 
to go at any given hour to-day or to-morrow, and fall down 
before God in prayer? Would you promise to do this ; 
could you be assured that at the moment when you were 
calling upon God for mercy, you should be accompanied 
by the earnest intercessions of your family, and of all your 
friends in your behalf? You have heard, that 'the effec- 
tual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much ; ' 
that the intercession of Abraham suspended, for a time, the 
descending fire which destroyed Sodom ; that, could ten 
righteous men have been found there, God would for their 
sakes,have recalled the sentence which had gone out against 
it ; — now would you deem it a sufficient encouragement to 
go before God, could we guarantee that, at the time you 
prayed, every righteous man, every believer in the kingdom 
should enter into his closet, and earnestly supplicate God 
for you ? Or, beyond this, could we assemble together, in 
your behalf, a solemn convocation of all the christian 
churches upon earth; could we bring all flesh before God; 
could we undertake to engage for you all the power of 
prayer which at present exists upon earth ; and carrying 
the supposition out to the utmost, could we even ensure to 
you the mightier supplications of the church above, of all 
its thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, and orders of 
saints ; were all the created universe to obtain a special au- 



156 THE GREA.T TEACHER. 

dience of God at the same time, and to surround his throne 
together, for the sole object of entreating him in your behalf, 
could you doubt of your success ? If he speaks of the 
combined intercession of ' Noah, Daniel, and Job,' as ail 
but omnipotent, could you question the efficacy of your en- 
treaties, if you knew them to be thus seconded and urged 
by the combined importunity of all creation in prayer? 
But what if, at the very moment of audience, when the vio- 
lent were taking heaven for you by force ; what if then 
you should behold the Savior himself come forth, and 
stand at the altar of incense, having in his hand the golden 
censer ; and what if you should hear him announce, ' I will 
pray the Father for you.' O what a day of hope would 
instantly arise upon your soul ! would you not at once be 
shamed out of all your fears and unbelief? would you not 
feel that, having him for an advocate, you could dispense 
with all inferior aid ? that your suit was as good as gained ? 
So far from doubting or dreading the issue of your pray- 
ers, you would henceforth feel that the footstool of mercy 
was the only place of safety and of hope ; that if danger 
impended, yet there he stood between you and it ; that if 
mercy gushed forth, he stood there as the medium to re- 
ceive and pour it into your soul; that, in his hands, your 
sacrifice received an infinite accession of worth, and your 
entreaties, if at all augmented in power, were augmented to 
omnipotence. But you need no vision to certify the sub- 
stantial truth of this representation. If there be any ve- 
racity in the word of God, there can be no more credible 
fact than this — that Jesus ever liveth to make intercession 
for us. You are warranted to imagine and paint the vis- 
ion to your faith ; to believe that you no sooner approach 
the seat of mercy, than you become the client of the great 
Advocate ; that, on the first utterance of your penitence, he 
espouses your cause, makes it his own, and presents your 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 157 

supplication before the throne as his own desire. Can you 
doubt or delay to draw near to God after this ? 

9. It is observable that our Lord encourages the devo- 
tion of his disciples, by placing the virtue of his mediation 
in a striking variety of lights. In uttering the language 
already quoted, he fledges himself to the office of their per- 
sonal Intercessor; ' I will pray the Father for you.' 
He who could not see them exposed to destruction without 
pouring out his life to save them, could not behold them 
prostrate at the throne of grace, as trembling suppliants, 
without raising them up and becoming their advocate. He, 
who has created for them an infinite fund of merit, could 
not fail to employ it in the way most eminently conducive 
to their advantage ; causing it to ascend in their behalf, as 
a memorial before God, at the moment of their entreaties 
for mercy. It is to be borne in mind, that while on earth, 
he did nothing for himself. Having graciously engaged 
to be our substitute, whatever he did, he did solely for his 
people. What then has become of the inexhaustible fund 
of obedience accruing from his obedience unto death ? 
How is the infinite treasure employed? Where is it de- 
posited? By proclaiming himself our Intercessor, he 
would have us to know that the entire merit of all he did 
is contained as incense in his golden censer, that he might 
offer it up with the prayers of his people. Our prayers 
then, in their ascent to the throne of God, mingle and 
blend with the ascending incense of his merit. Our voice, 
before it reaches the ear of God, falls in and blends with 
the voice of him, whom the Father heareth always. So 
that, in pledging himself to intercede in our behalf, he is, 
in effect, assuring us of the certainty of our success. 

10. Another encouragement to prayer, which he derives 
for us from his mediatorial influence, is the use which he 
allows us to make of his name. ' Ask,' saith he, * in my 



158 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

name. 1 Were we about to become suppliants to an earth- 
ly benefactor, it would be important to ascertain the plea 
most likely to dispose him to accede to our request. For 
there is always one argument which affects an individual, 
and gives us the key to his heart more effectually than all 
others. How important is it then that we, who are daily 
suppliants to God for blessings on which our salvation de- 
pends, should be acquainted with that plea which he most 
delights to honor. Now the plea most prevalent with him 
is beyond all comparison, the name of Jesus. It is the 
name of his only begotten Son. It is the name which he 
has solemnly pledged himself to honor. It is the name 
which he himself has conferred in token of his infinite 
complacency and satisfaction. It is the name which he 
has indissolubly bound up with his own character and 
perfections, so that he cannot disregard it without dishonor- 
ing his own name. Employ any other name, as a plea at 
the throne of grace, and you insult the majesty of heaven. 
But employ his name, and you instantly attract the com- 
placent attention of the almighty Father, and obtain access 
to the treasures of his grace. 

1 Hitherto,' said Christ, ' have ye asked nothing in my 
name 1 Up to that moment, in the history of the church, 
devotion had been ignorant of its real strength ; unacquaint- 
ed with the extent of its resources and power. Relying 
simply on the promises of God, it was content to present 
its supplications, ignorant of the ground on which they 
were heard ; and often sighing in the paroxysms of con- 
scious guilt, for a days-man and intercessor. But Jesus 
explained the rationale of devotion ; laid open the secret 
of our success ; and thus enabled it to feel the power which 
it has with God, the purchase it has on the eternal throne. 
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in my name,he will give it you ; ' as if he had said 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 159 

• When you go to the door of mercy, and knock, make use 
of my name and ye shall gain admission ; make it known 
that you belong to me, and my Father will treat you as be- 
longing to him ; make it known that there is a mutual af- 
fection, a close and indissoluble friendship subsisting be- 
tween us, and my Father will take you into his favor, to 
his heart : tell him that my name is dear to you, and it 
will endear you to him ; so endear you, that ask what you 
will, the forgiveness of your sins, adoption into his family, 
the sanctification of your nature, the riches of his grace, 
all, all, he will give it you ; I am so beloved by him, that 
for my sake he will refuse you nothing.' 

We ourselves are accustomed to act kindly towards a 
person, though he be a stranger to us, provided he can 
show us that he is related to one whom we love; in show- 
ing him kindness, we feel that we are evincing our affec- 
tion for the friend who sent him. The Father demonstrates 
his infinite love to Christ, by receiving and welcoming the 
friends of Christ as his own friends. He has pledged 
himself to do so ; and he is so complacently delighted with 
Christ ; so fully satisfied with the atonement he has made; 
feels himself so unspeakably glorified by the incarnation 
and life, the death and mediation of Christ ; by all that he 
has done for the honor -of the divine government and the 
salvation of man, that, if I may say so, he has thrown 
open his heart and his heaven to all the friends of Christ. 
They come to his throne ; and on the intercession of 
Christ in their behalf, the Father lays open all the treas- 
ures of his grace for their appropriation and use. * Yea,' 
saith Christ, ' ask in my name, and I do not say that I will 
pray the Father for you ; for the Father himself loveth 
you because ye have loved me.' ' Make use of my name, 
and that will suffice ; my name alone, without any entreaty 
on my part, would be a certain passport to my Father's 



160 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

heart, and to all the riches of his grace.' ' Wherefore, ask 
and receive, that your joy may be full.' 

Now what a vast acquisition was this to the wealth of 
devotion ; it was supplying" it with a key to the divine 
treasury, and placing it in a position, in reference to the 
throne of grace, which gave to it an omnipotent influence 
with him who sitteth thereon. What a prodigious advance 
was it, in one sense, even on the promise of his personal 
intercession! By empowering his people to employ the 
argument of his name, he is, in so far, placing the fund of 
his merit at their disposal ; affording them the profound 
satisfaction of bringing it into the presence of God, and 
using for themselves the very same plea which he employs 
for them ; he is in effect pleading for them by their own 
lips as well as with his own, and thus multiplying the 
voice and power of his intercession. By investing them 
with this privilege, he is virtually clothing them with 
priestly vestments, placing them by his side at the altar, 
and putting into their hands a censer filled with incense 
like his own. 

11. But further, with a view to promote the devotion of 
his disciples, he distinctly engages to answer their suppli- 
cations. 4 Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will 
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye 
shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.' That the 
same being should undertake, both to present and to an- 
swer their petitions, both to intercede for them and to con- 
fer the blessings sought, may appear incompatible; but 
the offices, though distinct, are perfectly reconcileable. In 
his conduct at the altar we behold the Intercessor, and in 
his conduct on the throne we behold the result and reward 
of his intercession ; having become the medium of prayer 
from man to God, he is rewarded by being made the me- 
dium of blessing from God to man : the Intercessor for 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 161 

human penury, is constituted the Almoner of infinite boun- 
ty : he is called from the altar of incense, to ascend and 
dispense from the throne of God, the blessings which he 
has sought for us. 

However various the lights then in which we behold the 
virtues of our Lord's mediation, it is evident that one prin- 
ciple explains, harmonizes, and encompasses the whole — 
the love of God ; that they all subserve the grand aim of 
which we have been speaking — the manifestation of the 
divine character for human encouragement and salvation. 
To regard the institution of the intercessory office, as ne- 
cessary to give us success with God, is an injustice to his 
beneficence, and a misapprehension of the whole economy. 
* At that day,' saith Christ, ' ye shall ask me nothing : for 
the Father himself loveth you. And whatsoever ye shall 
ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be 
glorified in the Son.'' Till our fears are allayed, and our 
distrust removed, the love of God does not cease to heap 
up its gifts, and to multiply its grants and appointments. 
On this principle it is, that the throne of grace, though in 
itself ineffably attractive as occupied by infinite love, is 
made additionally attractive by the appointment and pres- 
ence of a benignant Intercessor : as if God did not deem its 
attractions complete while only invested with the might 
of his own love, he has placed at the altar before it an Ad- 
vocate clothed in our own nature. On our way to the seat 
of mercy our Intercessor assures us, and asks us to receive 
the assurance as the only correct interpretation of his of- 
fice, that if he accompanies and introduces us to God, it is 
not because God requires it for himself, but for us ; that 
the design of his intercession is, not to excite but to satisfy 
the love of the Father — by granting this last favor to our 
fears. There is a spot in the universe where centres all 
dignity, authority, and power — the focus of glory — that 

10 



162 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

spot is at the right hand of Deity ; and Jesus assures us that 
he himself is its sole occupant in the capacity of our Inter- 
cessor. Yes, he who might have been placing a vial of 
wrath in the hand of every angel around his throne, with 
a commission to pour it out on this rebellious world till it 
was utterly consumed, is standing at this moment at the 
altar of incense, presenting our prayers for mercy, and 
officiating there as our great high priest. 

1 Who then is he that condemneth ? it is Christ that died: 
yea, rather, that is risen again ; who is even at the right 
hand of God ; who also maketh intercession for us ! ' This 
is an argument not to be refuted, a climax to which nothing 
can be added ; leading us upward, step by step, it conducts 
us to a summit where all is unclouded and serene, and 
where we can breathe the air of security and triumph. 
While standing on this elevation, by the side of our Inter- 
cessor, and in the light of the throne of God, we feel that 
no foe can approach, no enemy impeach us, that the uni- 
verse is at peace with us. 

How richly is Jesus entitled to be called the Wonder- 
ful ! The view indeed which has now been taken of his 
office and excellence, is hasty and defective : had it been 
much less unworthy than it is, it would still have fallen in- 
finitely short of the grandeur of the subject ; for we are 
dilating on a theme on which it is a joy to reflect that per- 
fection is unattainable. But crude and imperfect as our 
remarks are, they will have answered an important end, 
if they have enabled us to feel this ; if they have made us 
sensible that we are engaged on a theme, which we must 
have eternity to celebrate and comprehend. He has shown 
us that even the mysteries of the Godhead admit of in- 
crease ; for he has added to them the peculiarities of hu- 
manity, and adopted the sum of them all into his own per- 
son. Besides the predicates which are true of him as God, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 163 

and those which are true of him as man, by combining 
divinity and humanity together, he has created, if I may 
say so, a third class of truths which can be predicated of 
him, and of him alone ; and on these, $s they relate to his 
mediatorial office, hangs the hope of the perishing world. 
None, before his advent, had ever succeeded in drawing 
the character of a perfect man ; he not merely described 
but exhibited a specimen of perfect humanity conjoined 
with Deity ; and while he preserved the characteristics of 
each nature distinct, he showed what God is, and what 
man should be ; became the representative of God and the 
exemplar of men. He erected a new order of greatness ; 
of which the laws, conditions and results — the whole arch- 
etype — were peculiarly his own. He gave anew economy 
to the divine government, placed himself at the head of a 
new dispensation, the object of which was to reconcile the 
prerogatives of justice and compassion ; and to do this, not 
by compromising either, but by honoring both ; by enabling 
mercy to punish without impairing its clemency or its 
claims to our love ; and enabling justice to forgive, without 
sacrificing its purity, or its claims on our awful regards. 
The rights of justice, and the condition of sinful man, were 
essentially hostile : they had diverged to an infinite re- 
moteness, and stood frowning at each other, as from oppo- 
site sides of the universe. He laid hold on the nature of 
man : and planting his cross midway, created a point of 
attraction which reached and drew them across the sepa- 
rating gulph, back to itself, as to a common centre. Jus- 
tice moved from its high and awful position on Sinai ; and, 
with all the armies of holiness, brightening and still 
brightening with complacency as it approached, bowed 
"with reverence at the cross, and said, ' It is enough.' The 
sinner, detached by the same magnetic power from the 
strong confederacy of sin, approaches, relents, and changes, 



164 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

as he draws near, till he falls prostrate before the cross, a 
new creation in Christ Jesus. By giving his heart to sin- 
ners, and for them, holiness finds that it has nothing to 
ask, nothing to do ; only to raise the sinner from the dust, 
and to become the guardian of his new life : the sinner 
finds that nothing is left him to desire, except that he may 
never wander from the sight of that cross which has made 
him the ward of infinite holiness, and is preparing him 
for heaven. Here God erects his throne, and man adores ; 
to each the cross is ineffably precious ; for it is only in its' 
immediate presence that sin can be vanquished, and yet 
the sinner be saved. 

While this amazing consummation was in actual pro- 
cess, the character of Christ evolved an amount of excel- 
lence which might have made angelic natures, if capable 
of the feeling, jealous of the rivalry and riches of earth. 
The eternal Father himself beheld in it more than an in- 
demnity for human transgression : never before had he 
contemplated a work in which his holiness appeared so 
pure, his mercy so amiable, his wisdom so profound ; he 
saw in it the stability of all law, the recovery of man, an 
infinite augmentation of the splendor which surrounds his 
throne, an amount of objective glory such as he had never 
before beheld out of, and apart from himself. And as if J 
this new relation and aspect of the divine nature had been 
an experiment, the result of which more than answered to 
his great idea ; as if the advent of Christ surpassed the 
divine expectation, the sublime phenomena which it dis- 
played, called forth audible and delighted expressions of 
paternal complacency and love ; the radiance of the divine 
countenance fell full upon them. 

The dedication of the Jewish temple was an epoch in 
the history of the earth. All Israel was assembled on the 
occasion: and had man done justice to the event, all the 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 165 

world would have nocked and kept festival ; for what did 
it signify but that the great God himself was become a 
dweller with man upon the earth. But the dedication of 
Christ was worthy to be a day of jubilee to the universe. 
Here human instrumentality was dispensed with, as un- 
worthy the greatness of the occasion ; nothing lower than 
angelic agency was employed ; the arrangement and pro- 
cess was wholly divine. His only human rlferald was di- 
rected to announce, ' him hath God the Father sealed ; — 
he needs no human induction or testimony ; he enters on 
his office sealed and signalized with all the marks of di- 
vinity upon him.' He proclaimed himself, as ' him whom 
the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world.' The 
splendid scene at his baptismal inauguration, when the 
heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended upon him, 
was only the after imitation, the faint repetition of a scene 
in heaven, in which the eternal Father, passing by all the 
hosts and hierarchies of heaven, had elected and devoted 
him to the office of his divine representative and our medi- 
ator : a scene, of which all the thrones, and dominions, 
and principalities of heaven stood around, the awed and 
admiring spectators ; and in which the only share they 
took, was reverently and joyfully to worship him. God 
of eternal glory ! thou thyself wast never so glorious in 
thine own eyes as at that moment, never so great in the 
eyes of thy creatures ! Could thine unbeginning and un- 
ending existence admit of dates, surely that would stand 
out as an era in thine eternal round of years. Never was 
the ocean of thy love stirred so completely to its depths. 
Never didst thou put forth thine hand on so glorious an 
occasion as then, when thou didst give up and devote thine 
only begotten Son, to the great work of embodying and 
bringing thy character into the world that men might be- 
hold it and live ! And thou, co-equal and co-eternal Son, 



166 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

never hadst thou, shone more glorious in the eyes of pa- 
ternal love, nor made so large and unanswerable a demand 
on the admiration and homage of the universe, as when, 
accepting thy new and mysterious office, thou didst say, 
' For their sakes I sanctify myself.' In pursuance of thy 
voluntary engagement, thou didst come and offer thyself 
and thy glory to the world ; thou didst withdraw thyself 
from the grandeur of heaven, and set thyself apart to the 
wants and sorrows of earth ; and, having set up thy taber- 
nacle amongst us, thou didst keep it consecrated for the 
indwelling glory and for the worship of man. Ambition 
never entered it : the kingdoms of the world, and the glo- 
ries of them, were brought in perspective before thee ; but 
thou sawest them as though thou sawest them not: Thou 
couldest, with a single sentence, have flashed light on the 
darkest mysteries of science ; but thou wouldest not spare 
a moment from teaching that sublimer knowledge — the 
science of salvation. Thou hadst ears only for one sound, 
and that was the sound occasioned by sin ; the voice of 
penitence imploring forgiveness; the voice of fear and 
conscious guilt deprecating the vengeance of eternal fire. 
Thou hadst eyes only for one sight — a wilderness of woe, 
a captive world, chained to the wheels of the great enemy, 
and already arrived in the gloomy precincts of hell. This 
object filled the whole sphere of thy vision ; thou couldest 
see nothing else ; and had all the thrones of earth been va- 
cant and invited thy acceptance, it would not have induced 
thee to diverge a single step from the path which led direct 
to the cross. Thou hadst tears but for one object, and thou 
didst weep them over lost souls. So fully wast thou pos- 
sessed with the vastness of thy design, that thou didst 
value moments, faculties, life itself, only as the means of 
working it out ; and through every step of thy course, thou 
didst bring the whole of thy glory to bear on its comple- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 167 

tion. Thou hadst not to cast out aught evil from thy ca- 
pacious mind ; thou hadst not to sweep and cleanse the 
temple of thy soul from sordid cares, for never didst thou 
know a thought alien from thine object; and, though all 
the fulness and fire of the passions dwelt in thee, thou 
didst not waste a single feeling, but didst devote the whole 
as consecrated fuel for offering up the great sacrifice in 
which thy life was consumed, and by which the world 
might be saved. And how godlike was the object to which 
he set himself apart ! At the altar of God he swore eter- 
nal war against the principle of sin ; devoted himself to 
the work of chasing it from the earth, of putting it to shame 
in the face of the universe ; and of achieving this task, 
not by the arbitrary domination of power, but by merely 
showing what God is, by the exercise of omnipotent love. 
Were we to hear of a design contemplated by God, to sub~- 
due the rebellion of hell, and to rescue its victims, what a 
view would it give us of his unresting benevolence, and 
with what impatient longing should we desire to know the 
way in which the sun of the divine glory would arise on 
the blackness of darkness, and how it would paint its lustre 
on the clouds of perdition. But the importation of the di- 
vine character and glory to earth, in the person of Christ, 
however from circumstances we may disparage the event, 
would bear a comparison even with that ; for our carnal 
mind was enmity against God like theirs, while we pos- 
sessed not even the redeeming quality, to believe and 
tremble. 

It seems to be one of the laws of mind, that it shall be 
not merely employed, but employed to the full ; and when 
it becomes conscious of its dignity and powers, nothing 
less than great objects can satisfy it. Now, what a thea- 
tre did the blessed Jesus select, what an object did he adopt 
in coming into the world ! Let us receive it in his own 



168 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

words to the eternal Father ; ' For their sakes I sanctify 
myself, that they may be sanctified through the truth ;' that 
he might make truth do the work of power ; that he might 
pervade and transform pollution into sanctity, by merely 
showing it the face of truth ; that he might erect living 
temples out of the wreck and refuse of humanity, swept 
by the besom of destruction to the very mouth of perdition. 
Let us hear him repeat the design in other language ; 
• I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it ; 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them t 
and I in them? He contemplated nothing less than the 
conveyance of the love of God to man ; to bring it to us 
as our portion ; entail it on us as our inheritance ; trans- 
fuse it through us as our life. Like the prophet emblem- 
atically extending himself over the dead body of the child, 
to convey life into all its parts, the Savior proposes to shed 
abroad the love of God through every member of his body 
the church, to convey the circulating vitality of that love 
through every part of our nature, that it may dwell in us 
as it does in him. But is not this an unattainable design ? 
is it possible that God can love us as he loves Christ ? 
Jesus himself declares, that nothing less than this can satisfy 
his desires in our behalf; and we may rest assured that, 
vast as those desires are, they are all defined and accredit- 
ed by the hand of infinite wisdom : they are only the pul- 
sations of the heart of paternal love ; they are the desires 
of one, who knows, if we may say so, from actual admeas- 
urement, the length and breadth, the height and depth of 
the love of God; and who knows that, as soon as we be- 
come united to him, the Father loves us as parts of Christ, 
as members of that mystical body of which Christ is the 
glorified head. The tide of the divine love, on its first 
flowing forth from the heart of God, found its rest in Christ ; 
till having opened for itself an ample channel through his 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 169 

sufferings and death in our stead, it poured on with una- 
bated strength to reach his people, carrying away all 
their sins, bearing every obstacle before it, and shedding 
itself abroad in their hearts ; Christ, at the same time, en- 
tering with it, and infinitely augmenting it by the acces- 
sion ; and thus realizing his great and godlike design, 
' that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in t 
them, and I in them.' 

So great was the avowed intention of the Redeemer's \ 
advent, that none but a mind of infinite compass could 
have formed it ; and so amazing the manner in which he 
achieved it, by the humble organs and instruments of hu- 
manity, that were it not for the immortal interests at stake, 
we could scarely wonder at the ancient heresy which taught 
that the whole of his life was a phantasm, a supernatural 
illusion of the senses. That God should be manifested 
in the flesh, was truly the mystery which had been hid 
from ages, and from generations. That, in the nature of a 
man, God should have been, like light in the sun, enthron- 
ed, uttering and unburdening infinite love with his tongue ; 
beaming divine compassion through his eyes; illustrating 
purity and grace by his actions — it is this which renders 
the person of Christ ineffably glorious above the whole 
creation ; it is this which crowns him with glory and hon- 
or. There is nothing like it in the universe : take the 
wings of the morning and flee to the uttermost parts of 
the earth ; ransack the treasures of creation ; visit and be- 
hold its brightest glories, plunge into the depths beneath ; 
soar to the heights above ; survey and question the blest 
inhabitants of heaven ; and you will find that the person of 
Christ, as the manifested glory of God, has no comparison. 
Bring all that is great into his presence, and it becomes 
little ; bring all that is glorious, and it is eclipsed and lost. 
Oh ! the depth of the riches of that love, wherein God 



170 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

hath abounded towards us in the person of his Son. 
When we begin to speak of it, we instantly feel the pover- 
ty of our thoughts, our utter unfitness to approach it. It 
is a subject in which minds of every order are alike lost ; 
on which human wisdom can say nothing ; on which we 
can only lisp like infants, or acknowledge our helplessness 
by our silent adoration. Here, then, is the peculiar prov- 
ince of faith and prayer ; here is an object in whose pres- 
ence our wisdom becomes ignorance ; here our understand- 
ing is completely at fault ; God in Christ is an object so 
stupendous that it cannot be brought into our minds ; we 
have not room to receive it : this truth is a guest so glori- 
ous, that our limited mind feels itself both unworthy and 
unable to receive it under its roof; our faith must go forth, 
with all the train of christian graces, and do it homage. 
Like the apostle, when oppressed in its presence with a 
sense of its immensity, we can only take refuge in prayer, 
beseeching 'the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that he would grant .... that we may be able to compre- 
hend .... and to know the love of Christ, which passeth 
knowledge. 

We have already remarked the profound satisfaction 
expressed by the Father, at the display of his character in 
the person of Christ ; a satisfaction which showed that he 
beheld in it the perfect reflection of his own image. On 
account of this entire identity of character, we often find 
the apostles speaking of the eternal Father and of Christ, 
in equivalent and convertible terms. Hence, too, the pre- 
cedence and importance assigned to the knowledge of 
Christ ; and the promise of the Spirit, for the special de- 
sign of imparting that knowledge ; for it is only by acquaint- 
ing ourselves with the character of Christ that we can ar- 
rive at the knowledge of God ; our knowledge of the Son 
is the exact measure of our acquaintaince with the Father. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 171 

The Regenerating- Spirit, in all his operations on the hu- 
man heart, makes the character of Christ the pattern after 
which he works; he begins by taking of the things of 
Christ, and showing them to the eye which he has prepar- 
ed to behold them ; and he ends not, till the soul is com- 
pletely conformed to the perfect model. Believers them- 
selves are enamored of it, for it is the character of their 
Savior ; and as such, every act and feature composing it 
bears a direct relation to them. They can think of no ex- 
cellence, can make not the remotest approach to any modi- 
fication of goodness, of which they do not find the arche- 
type and perfection in him. Turning from every other 
representation as dim and veiled, they all, as with open face 
behold in him the glory of the Lord. A glance at this ob- 
ject fills their minds with a grand and overpowering idea 
of excellence ; it draws to itself the whole depth and mass 
of their being. They count every part of their moral dis- 
cipline as lost, which does not promote their likeness to his 
image ; every instance in which the ordinances of grace 
do not increase their love to him, they regard as a fresh 
call to humiliation, a fresh provocative to self-examination 
and prayer ; while every act of devotion they deem espe- 
cially defective, which does not celebrate his glory, or im- 
plore an accession of ' the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, 
in the knowledge of him. 

If a life of piety may be considered a life of praise to 
God ; if man is so fearfully and wonderfully made, that 
even a discourse on the use of the parts of his body may 
be regarded as a hymn to the Creator, where shall we find 
terms fit to describe the tribute of Glory to God which 'ac- 
crues from the life of Christ ? or, could we appreciate his 
character in all its perfections, what expressions of ecstacy 
and delight would do justice to its worth? Nature from 
the beginning, had been vocal in her Maker's praise ; had 



172 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

been constant and full in an anthem, in which every crea- 
ture bore its part ; but the whole creation in chorus could 
not show forth all his praise, could but barely hint his ex- 
cellence. As if conscious of the defect, and anxious to re- 
pair it by commencing anew, piety had often restrung her 
harp, and summoned the creatures to arise and aid her in 
the infinite attempt ; had called on every thing that hath 
breath to join in a full concert of praise to God. But her 
utmost effort was only a preluding flourish, till he should 
come to lead the song, who had said, ' In the midst of the 
church will I sing praise unto thee.' He took up the strain 
at a point beyond which creation would never have carried 
it. His voice gave the key-note to the universe. His de- 
scription of the divine character furnished words for the 
new, everlasting, universal song. His unconfined power ; 
his unsearchable understanding: his holiness, on which 
no spot, no shadow could settle, and which the eyes of 
wickedness could not gaze on for its brightness ; his untir- 
ing patience ; his constant community with the general 
heart of man, which he wept over and bathed in tears : his 
meekness clothed with majesty ; his personification of in- 
finite love: these were the several parts of the harmonious 
song. All the attributes in him became vocal, and made 
infinite music in the ear of that glorious Being in whom 
they eternally reside. Each myriad-voiced rank of the 
church above, over-flowing with joy, took up the mighty, 
whelming, ocean strain : the church below redoubled, and 
returned it back again in alleluias to the throne of God ; 
age after age has heard it swelling on, as lisping infancy, 
and newly pardoned penitence, and misery beguiled of its 
woes, and ingratitude charmed into thankfulness, and hope 
spreading her pinions for heaven, and all the new-born 
heirs of grace have awoke up their glory, and joined the 
general choir ; and on it shall continue to roll and sw T ell at- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 173 

tuning and gathering to itself all the harmonies of nature ; 
till all space shall become a temple ; and all holy beings, 
actuated by one spirit, and swayed in perfect diapason, shall 
become one great instrument, sounding forth 'praise to 
God in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, 
world without end. Amen. 



SECTION III. OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 



•This spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.' 



It is extremely difficult to discriminate between origin- 
ality and mere novelty in a public teacher. The multitude 
are so prone to take their opinions from first impulses, 
rather than from judgment 5 inconsiderately and impet- 
uously to ascribe a new and pleasing impression to the 
highest possible origin, rather than to any secondary cause; 
that many a public instructor has been invested with the 
highest prerogative, of genius, whose only attraction was, 
that he had assumed one of the thousand vizors which nov- 
elty owes, and wore it gracefully. And what enhances 
the difficulty of discrimination is, that while it is in the 
power of an inferior mind to invest a familiar truth with 
an air of singularity, it is one of the attributes of the high- 
est order of intellect, and an attribute which it delights to 
exercise, to simplify an original truth and give to it an air 
of familiarity ; to secure for it an easy introduction into 
the mind, by giving it though a stranger, the welcome as- 
pect of a friend. 



174 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

The difficulty of discrimination is further increased, 
when the truths to be judged of date back to a remote an- 
tiquity ; when, by distance of time, which operates in this 
case like distance of space, the opinions which looked bold 
and prominent to the near beholder, have mingled and melt- 
ed into one mass of indistinctness. 

We have advanced the claim of originality for many of 
the doctrines of the Great Teacher ; and were the Old 
Testament the only witness to be examined, the claim might 
be easily substantiated. But during the long silence of 
the divine oracle, during the space which intervened from 
the last words of Malachi to the coming of Christ, we know 
not what opinions grew up and prevailed. It is only reas- 
oning on the known principles of humanity, to say, that 
when the living voice of inspiration had ceased to speak, 
the sacred volume was much more likely to receive the 
undivided attention of the church than before. And with 
a volume so seminal of all truth, so constantly whispering 
in the ear of hope, as the Bible, who can say what ap- 
proaches were made to many evangelical doctrines ; what 
prophets of hope arose ? And when once opinions, to 
which the wants or aspirations of the soul respond, have 
been broached, who can say to what consolidation or sta- 
bility they may attain ? The feathered seed, which this 
year floats in the air ; the emblem of volatility ; a feather 
dropped from the wing of levity ; will next year, be found 
rooted in the earth ; dividing with the oak the spoils of 
the clouds, and rejoicing in the blessings of heaven, itself a 
seed-bearing plant. And the floating guess of one age be- 
comes the settled creed of a succeeding ; its point-like base 
is forgotten; and mengo on building an inverted pyramid 
whose top may reach to heaven : it is congenial with one 
or other of the elements of humanity, and, by passing 
through a thousand minds, it acquires a consistency and 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 175 

power which gives it a place among the realities of our 
being. 

By what process then shall we ascertain how much of 
the gospel is an absolute origination ; or how much is a 
mere adoption and authorization of pre-existing opinions? 
Taking many other tests for granted, it may be suggested, 
that the amount of new truth contained in the gospel, 
or the degree of newness belonging to any one of its doc- 
trines, may be conjectured from the number of errors 
which have sprung up around it. Truth is antecedent to er- 
ror and the measure of it ; as is the originality of a doctrine 
or system, in the same proportion will be the multiplicity 
of errors following. The whole tribe of error is parasi- 
tical, and can only grow by hanging its envenomed weight 
on the plants of truth. Let the doctrines of Christ be 
judged of in this way ; the plants of the Lord's right- 
hand planting, and the originality of his teaching will be 
apparent to all. 

The doctrine of the agency of the Holy Spirit, is one 
of the most original -which came from the lips of Christ; 
and one whose precise degree of originality is most mark- 
ed and ascertainable. Referring to the records of the Old 
Testament, we learn the distinction of the Spirit in 
the unity of the Godhead ; his personality and his divinity. 
We read of the same divine subsistence as daily replen- 
ishing the earth with life and beauty; as visiting and ac- 
tuating the moral world at pleasure ; and as promised to 
the church, with a frequency, particularity, and magnifi- 
cence of language, which showed that the divine Promi- 
ser himself regarded the gift as identical with a state of 
distinguished prosperity ; and which led believers to 
mark it with supreme distinction, by calling it the pro- 
mise. 

Concerning the nature of the Holy Spirit, as a distinct 



176 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

and divine person, the teaching of Christ is clear and con- 
clusive : nor can we conceive any thing more unwelcome, 
to those who shrink from applying the personal pronouns 
to the Divine Spirit, than the valedictory discourse of 
Christ to his disciples.* If I do not enlarge on this part 
of the subject, then, let it be understood, that I refrain not 
because Christ was silent on it; for he, I repeat, was copious 
and explicit ; but because he had been greatly anticipated 
by the revelations of the Old Testament. 

I. It is worthy of our earliest consideration, both from 
its native importance, and from the peculiar solemnity of 
the affirmation, that our Lord described the mission oi the 
Holy Spirit as absolutely dependent on his own return to 
heaven. ' Nevertheless, i" tell you the truth, it is expedi- 
ent for you that I go away; for, if I go not away, the 
Spirit will not come unto you ; but, if I depart, I will send 
him unto you.' Now, admitting the impropriety of any 
arrangement which should have combined together the 
presence of the Spirit and the personal residence of Christ 
in permanent conjunction on earth, it may yet be inquired 
why the mission of the Spirit could not have taken place 
immediately before the ascension of Christ, as well as 
immediately after 1 If the inquirer be sincere, it would be 
sufficient to reply, ' Even so, Father : for so it seemeth 
good in thy sight.' The arrangement may have been 
founded on reasons of state; reasons, which measure with 
the universe, as comprehensive as the divine government, 
and the issues of which are placed far in eternity. But 
many of the reasons for this arrangement are apparent : 

* On the ineffable promanation or procession of the Holy Spirit 
from the Father and the Son, though it is a truth which seems ne- 
cessarily involved in certain parts of that discourse, I presume not 
to speak. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 177 

the Almighty evinced by it his reverence for order. He 
was evolving a plan of infinite magnitude, the unfolding 
of which had commenced at the fall; he had arrived at a 
vital part of it, a part on which he would have mankind in 
all ages to fix their gaze ; and he therefore caused it to un- 
fold and pass before their eyes in slow and stately proces- 
sion. He knew that man is easily distracted by multi- 
plicity of objects ; is extremely liable to place the cause 
for the effect, and the effect for the cause ; is taught most I 
effectually by example; is prone to disregard a future 
good, so long as he can retain a present though inferior bles- 
sing : on all these accounts, therefore, the mission of the 
Holy Spirit was withheld until Christ had ascended to his 
appointed throne. The Almighty would signalize the en- 
thronement of Christ in the eyes of the universe ; would 
impress the minds of believers with the glorious reception 
which their Head had met with on his return to heaven ; 
would enjoy the infinite satisfaction of hearing the first 
prayer of that exalted Head for the promised Spirit ; and 
thus demonstrate to them, at once and for ever, the certain 
prevalency of his intercession ; for if his first prayer suc- 
ceeded in obtaining for us the great gift of the Spirit, how 
much more shall he secure for us every inferior good ; God 
would show us in the most impressive manner, by placing 
the fact in the strong light of the mediatorial throne, 'that 
the connexion of the work of Christ with the gift of the 
Spirit, is the absolute connexion of cause and effect. 

' He spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him 
should receive ; for the Spirit was not yet given, because 
that Jesus was not yet glorified. 1 Can we suppose that 
his ascension to heaven was a silent and private transac- 
tion ? Shall an Elijah ascend in a chariot of fire 1 shall 
the departed spirit of a Lazarus be conveyed by angels to 
Abraham's bosoragl? and shall the Lord of angels himself 

11 



178 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

return to his own dominions from the conquest of one 
world, and the redemption of another, unattended and 
obscure ? No ; ' The chariots of God, on the occasion, 
were twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.' At the 
point where he vanished from the view of mortals, he was 
joined by the rejoicing ranks of the cherubim and sera- 
phim ; he found them arranged to receive him ; impatient 
to commence the celebration of his deeds, and to conduct 
him in triumph to his glorious throne. His appearance 
was the signal to begin the song : they called on earth to 
assist them in the mighty task, ' Sing unto God, ye king- 
doms of the earth : sing praises unto the Lord ; to him 
that rideth upon the heaven of heavens.' That was the 
moment when the universe became the vehicle of his glory; 
when he began to ride on the summit of creation ; having 
all the events and revolutions of time for his chariot wheels. 
Hitherto, as man, he had inhabited the material parts of 
the creation ; but now he relinquished these and took pos- 
session of the intelligent parts. He began to inhabit the 
praises of eternity : not merely the spiritual universe, but 
even the essence of that ; the life of the spiritual universe, 
exhaling in the incense and fragrance of praise. He found 
himself enthroned far above all heavens, with the heights 
of creation for his footstool. 

It had been predicted, and he himself had confirmed the 
expectation, that when he ascended up on high, he would 
give gifts unto men. But what gift can Christ bestow rich 
enough to signalize and grace his accession to the media- 
torial throne ?- Had he collected together all the treasures 
of the earth, and multiplied them a thousand fold, and then 
poured them out at the feet of his people, the gift would 
have been utterly inadequate to the greatness of the occa- 
sion ; had all created good been accumulated upon them to 
the highest possible amount, it would only have disgraced 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 179 

the greatness of the occasion. The unconfined benevo- 
lence of his heart impelled him to give something, (for it 
was the jubilee of heaven,) and if he gave, he would be 
sure to bestow a gift worthy of himself, answerable to the 
magnitude of the occasion, honorable to the royalty of his 
grace. But if such is to be the character of the gift ; the 
Spirit, the divine Spirit, the converting, enlightening, sanc- 
tifying, saving Spirit alone, must be the donation. Because 
he would give all gifts in one, he gave to them the Holy 
Spirit. 

A very limited measure of this gift, indeed, the mere 
earnest of the Spirit, had been enjoyed under the Jewish 
dispensation : but the Spirit in his fulness was not then 
given, because the framework of that economy was too 
material to be inhabited and actuated by the Spirit ; and 
because Jesus, for whose bestowment the gift was reserved, 
was not yet glorified. But, during the whole economy, the 
influences of the Spirit had been accumulating for that 
auspicious moment. Prayers had been daily ascending 
for the fulfillment of ' the promise ; ' and, of all these ear- 
nest supplications, not one had been lost ; each of them had 
been turned into the blessing sought for, and had added 
something to the treasures of divine influence. The 
church had been incessantly importuning God to hasten 
the impartation of the gift ; and, with profound satisfaction, 
he had beheld a stream of supplication flowing for ages into 
the same channel, without a moment's pause, swelling and 
rising, till it was ready to overflow and pour forth a heal- 
ing flood of heavenly influence over the world. Nothing 
was wanting, but that Christ should add his intercession. 
Nothing was wanting, but that he should ascend his 
throne, and claim the gift of the Spirit, to pour it out upon 
his people. 

' He ascended up on high, leading captivity captive, and 



180 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

gave gifts unto men.' Having reached his throne, the 
Spirit came down as he had promised ; came like a rushing 
mighty wind, filling the whole house where the disciples 
were assembled, filling each heart, filling the whole church ; 
came with a copiousness and a power as if his influences had 
for ages been pent up and under restraint, and now rejoic- 
ed at being able to pour themselves out over the church and 
the world. And what was the immediate effect of that event % 
thousands were instantly converted ; the sword of the Spirit 
seemed newly edged with power, and bathed in the light- 
nings of heaven, flashing conviction on human conscien- 
ces, and piercing to the recesses of the soul. The gospel 
went flying abroad to the utmost ends of the earth, levy- 
ing human hearts in the name of Christ wherever it came. 
The influences of the Spirit poured over the world like an 
inundation, anew deluge, overturning the altars and sweep- 
ing away the vestiges of idolatry ; and, had the vital 
flood continued to roll on, the only altar left standing 
would have been that which sanctifieth the gift and the giv- 
er — the altar of the cross. New territories were added to 
the domains of the church ; vast tracts of the moral wil- 
derness were taken into the garden of the Lord. The 
church beheld her converts flocking to her from all di- 
rections, like clouds of doves to their windows : and among 
the wonders of that period, one was, to see her enemies 
lick the dust ; to see her bitterest persecutors become her 
champions and her martyrs ; to see leopards become lambs, 
and wolves become kids. 

The church became one region of life, of divine vitality 
throughout ; in which whosoever breathed, lived — enjoyed 
life in perfection. From a state of unsightly barrenness 
and drought, it was suddenly covered with verdure, like 
the garden of the Lord. Believers themselves seemed re- 
converted ; if sinners became saints, saints themselves 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 181 

became as angels ; thus fulfilling the prophecy which had 
said, ' The weak shall be as David, and David as an angel 
of the Lord.' Every christian saw in every other the face of 
an angel, looks of benevolence and brotherly love ; one 
interest prevailed ; one subject of emulation swallowed up 
every other ; who should approach nearest to the likeness 
of Christ; which should do most for the enlargement of 
his reign. * The whole multitude of them that believed 
were of one heart, and of one mind ;' the Spirit of Christ an- 
imated the whole, became the one heart of the whole com- 
munity, and every particular pulse beat in concert with it. 
What a gift was this ! The value of a gift depends mate- 
rially on its suitableness ; what could be more suitable to a 
world dying, dead in sin, than the Spirit of life and of ho- 
liness. The world was a valley of dry bones ; what could 
be more welcome than that the Spirit should come and 
breathe upon these slain, that they might live; that, descend- 
ing to this moral Golgotha, this place of skulls, he should 
give a soul to the world, and again replenish it with spir- 
itual life. How munificent was this gift! It was munifi- 
cent in itself, in its kind, for it was the best ; and was al- 
so munificent in its degree, for he poured it forth in a pro- 
fusion of gifts and graces. It was owing to no indigence, 
to no niggardliness on the part of Christ, that his church, 
did not rapidly extend over the world, and that the whole 
was not filled with the Spirit. He gave with a liberality 
which showed that he tasted his own act, enjoyed the god- 
like act of giving, gratified himself in the exercise of his 
benignity. How godlike was this gift ! Had man been 
consulted on the occasion, he would have asked some infe- 
rior good ; but Jesus, taking the affair entirely into his 
own hands, poured out his Holy Spirit — a blessing intend- 
ed to make us holy like himself, happy like himself, and 
even one with himself; for, by giving us his Spirit, he 



\ 



182 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

maybe said to have given us himself, to have turned him- 
self into Spirit, into a fountain of divine influence that he 
may be one with our spirits. 

II. The great object of the advent of the Holy Spirit is 
thus distinctly specified by Christ: ' When He is come, he 
shall convince the world of sin ;' an announcement which 
Jesus himself must have felt as a wonderful truth. Stand- 
ing as he did at that moment near to the cross, in the shad- 
ow of that awful monument of human guilt, he could not 
have glanced around on the scene of enormous and com- 
plicated guilt he was about to leave, and forward to the tri- 
umph and agency of the descending spirit, without feeling, 
as he uttered this grand prediction, that he was unbur- 
thening his mind of a weighty and glorious communica- 
tion. 

An obvious and striking feature of all the divine opera- 
tions, is the accomplishment of the most comprehensive 
and important ends, by few and simple means. Such is 
the nice dependence of every part of his government on 
every other part, and such the entire harmony of the whole, 
that he only touches an almost invisible chord, and the vi- 
bration is felt to the extremities of the universe : how tre- 
mendous then must that principle of evil be, which can 
only be subdued by the mighty power of the Spirit ; by 
the advent and accession of the third person in the awful 
Godhead ; by no modified energy, but by the full almigh- 
tiness of divine power. And tremendous it was ! The 
world had become the grave of piety : if the principle of 
piety showed itself vigorous and active, it became the mark 
for every shaft and weapon of hell ; if it was impotent, it 
soon sickened and sunk under the pestilential atmosphere 
which sin had universally diffused : angelic piety itself 
would have found a sepulchre here. Not only was the 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 183 

world destitute of all native, active goodness ; a principle 
of evil, another Spirit, embodying all the essences of evil, 
was here, and at work. But did man show no signs of 
resistance to this alien Spirit ? not a single indication of 
spiritual conflict appeared ; all was silent, unconstrained 
submission, for this, to use the emphatic language of in- 
spiration, is, ' where Satan's seat is.' 

Now by what means shall this mass of disorder, dark- 
ness, and death be renovated ? The divine benevolence 
had been prodigal of its means ; but as to any permanent 
good, they had failed. Experience had shown, that it was 
easier to crush and destroy the world, than to reform it. 
The Son of God himself had descended ; but, as if deter- 
mined by one desperate act to shut out all further commu- 
nications from above, as if to intimidate the mercy of Om- 
nipotence they crucified the Lord of glory. What expe- 
dient, then, we ask, remains to be employed? Oh ! how 
boundless are the divine resources ! how grand ! how 
amazing the provision ! It was not that our world should 
be the scene of a splendid angelic administration, and be 
charmed into a love of piety by their graceful exhibition 
of it : it was not that our world should be placed in dread- 
ful proximity to hell, and be awed into sullen but silent 
submission by the sight of worms that die not, and of fires 
that are not quenched : it was not that our world should be 
raised into the precincts of heaven ; that a sight of the 
Being we had rejected, there enthroned in light, and sur- 
rounded by the sanctities of heaven might surprise us into 
involuntary adoration. No, saith Christ, ' My Spirit alone 
is competent to the task ; and when He is come, He. shall 
convince the world of sin. External applications would 
only produce at best, a temporary reaction of mind: the 
agency that shall succeed in transforming it, must include 
the power of coming into immediate contact with it, and 



184 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

of having at command whatever can suitably affect it. I 
have a cause lying against mankind ; and he shall be my 
Advocate. I have an indefeasible claim on the human 
heart ; and he, the Great Pleader, shall enforce it on the 
consciences of men. He shall go into all the world as- 
serting my right, vindicating my claims, and writing my 
name upon human hearts ; and he, shall pass into every 
region of the soul, diffuse himself through all its capaci- 
ties and recesses, throwing light into the understanding, 
assailing and subverting the fortress of sin in the heart, 
and taking an oath of allegiance to me from all its redeem- 
ed powers.' 

Accordingly, in the discharge of his awful functions, 
the Spirit addresses himself to the hearts of men. There 
is sin lying upon them, enormous sin! and his object is 
to convince them of it. Oh ! how solemn the transaction ! 
how mysterious the process ! how critical the juncture ! 
The instrument employed may be, in itself, the most sim- 
ple and inefficient ; hearing the gospel, or reading it, or 
recalling some truth to mind : but while the eye, or the 
ear, or the memory is thus engaged, and all without seems 
at rest, the Spirit is at work within, bringing the truth for- 
ward into the strong light of distinct consciousness ; ren- 
dering it irresistible, by taking away the very will of re- 
sisting ; turning it into a living conviction, and incorpora- 
ting it among the spiritual realities of the soul. There are 
times, when all sensation seems collected into a point, and 
we live only in the eye or the ear : and when the Invisible 
Spirit is at work within, creating a new heart, the faculties 
and energies of our whole being seem collected into a fo- 
cal point — the entire soul becomes conscience. Having 
seated and centered himself there, the whole mass and depth , 
of our being is drawn, slowly perhaps, yet certainly drawn 
to him, owning his power, and trembling at his presence. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 185 

He is there, in the name of Christ ; there, as the living 
Law, come down to right itself; and as he goes on con- 
victing the sinner, piling up sentences of condemnation ; 
one power of the soul after another awakes, till the whole 
soul is one region of alarm ; and, collecting all its ener- 
gies into an outcry for mercy, exclaims, ' What must I do \/ 
to be saved 1 ' The prediction of Jesus is then fulfilled ; 
the Divine Spirit has conducted the cause of his illustrious 
Client to a triumphant issue. 

And in doing this, observe, no external force is employ- 
ed ; no violence whatever is done to the freedom of the 
mind; the subject of the operation is never more conscious 
of mental liberty than when the change is in process. It 
is true, the change is necessitated ; but that moral necessity 
is the highest form of freedom. It is true, that the mind 
is brought under the authority of a new law ; but that law 
is the royal law of liberty, the law to which the nature of 
man was preconfigured; and all that the Divine Spirit 
effects, is to bring out and make legible the secret charac- 
ters of that law originally written on the heart. He comes 
to the emancipation of the will from a state of slavery ; 
(for sin can only triumph by enfeebling the mind and ex,- 
tinguishing the liberty of the soul) ; and hence, from first 
to last, he carries the mind along with him, employs its 
own voluntary agency, calls into exercise its noblest pow- 
ers. Even the expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself ; 
for no sooner is it thus revisited by its Maker, than it em- 
ploys against sin those arms and instruments which had 
hitherto served as members of unrighteousness. In fine, 
the only condition oh which the freedom of a finite will is 
possible, is, by its becoming one with the will of God ; 
and to produce this happy junction is the object of the re- 
generating Spirit ; so that subjection to him is restoration 
to oneself. His presence in the soul is the first signal and - 



186 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 



moment of freedom ; and the more he puts forth his influ- 
ence within it, the more spontaneous and vigorous are its 
own movements ; till it utters an instinctive cry for the 
Spirit, and for liberty, as for an identical good. 



III. The same truth appears in another original state- 
ment of Christ, declarative of the means by which the 
Holy Spirit should operate on the mind — ' He shall take of 
mine, and show it unto you.' Sin is the disease and de- 
rangement of the soul, in consequence of which the under- 
standing fails to discharge its appointed function on the 
heart: the eye of a corpse, as long as its transparency re- 
mains unimpaired, will receive the picture of an object on 
the retina as well as if the organ were living, but there is 
no corresponding impression produced on the brain ; so re- 
ligious truths may be easily imported into the understanding, 
but then it has ceased to be a medium of conveyance to the 
heart ; the communication between them is obstructed, and 
we have the mortification of finding, that to obtain the as- 
sent of the one, is no security whatever for the concurrence 
of the other. To produce this essential coincidence be- 
tween the understanding and the heart is the province of 
the Spirit alone. 

In a well-ordered family, while every member has his 
appropriate duties, yet, if occasion require, one will go far 
in his kind endeavors to supply the deficiencies or absence 
of another. And though the several powers of the mind, 
like an exemplary household, have their respective duties, 
yet, on occasion, will the emotions and excited affections 
of the soul find an understanding of their own, and antici- 
pate the office of the judgment. Under the influence of 
the Spirit, the heart is frequently induced to listen for the 
understanding, as well as the understanding for the heart. 
His' entrance occasions a temporary confusion in the house- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 187 

hold economy of the soul, during which an interchange of 
friendly offices unconsciously takes place, and which facili- 
tates the necessary preparation for the reception of the 
King of Glory. 

And how alluring the objects, how captivating the means 
by which he solicits an entrance into the soul! It is true, 
that the process of couching the mental, not less than the 
bodily eye, may be attended with pain ; the birth-pangs of 
the new principle may be severe ; but the objects to which 
he directs the first efforts of the attention are all of the 
most captivating nature. The first sight which greeted 
the eye of Adam, was the enchanting scenery of paradise 
wet with the first dew ; and the sight on which the Di- 
vine Spirit would have the eye of the new creature first to 
rest, is composed of the selected and arranged glories of 
Christ. He takes the best of the best, the most attractive 
excellencies of him who is ' altogether lovely,' an ddisposes 
them so as to engage and receive the first glances of the 
renewed sinner : infinite love, in the person of the Son of 
God, looking at him from heaven ; erasing the sentence 
of his condemnation ; inserting his name in the book of 
life ; presenting to him a robe of righteousness ; preparing 
for him a heavenly mansion ; pointing him to the spectacle 
of the cross as the means of his redemption, and to the 
crown of life as the end of his faith : these are ' the things 
of Christ,' which are placed by the Spirit before the eye 
of the mind, and along with which he passes in, and dif- 
fuses himself through the whole soul. He would silence 
every other sound, but that which emanates from these 
speaking truths; and cast a veil over all other objects, that 
the soul might be secluded and left to the undisturbed in- 
fluence of this new creation. He would have it awake to 
the sound of music, to the music of the Savior's voice of 
love. He would have it to inhale the knowledge of Christ 



188 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

like fragrance ; to imbibe holiness insensibly, as from a 
surrounding element ; and heavenly dispositions, like mel- 
odies, stealing into the heart from a distance. While 
'forming Christ within the hope of glory,' he would come 
upon the soul with a grateful over-shadowing, and operate 
only through the medium of the affections. 

IV. The absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy 
Spirit comes to us under the great seal of our Lord's most 
solemn asseveration repeatedly affixed ; ' Amen, amen, I 
say unto you ; I, who not merely desire to speak the truth, 
but who am the truth ; I, who am the amen, the faithful 
and true witness ; who, having come from heaven, am ac- 
quainted with the character of such as are allowed to enter 
it; I, who hold the keys of that kingdom, I say unto you, 
Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he can- 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' 

It is the property of every form of created power inces- 
santly to labor to subdue all things to itself. The stagna- 
tion of the universe is prevented by this unremitting strug- 
gle. The revolution of the planets is maintained by the 
perpetual contest of two principles, each of which is al- 
ways equal to cope with, but never able to master the other. 
All the activity and life of nature are to be traced to the 
unwearied contention of its various elements ; each seek- 
ing to overpower and assimilate the rest to itself, but itself 
acted on in return by so equal a force, that incessant con- 
flict is made incessant harmony. In the intellectual world, 
a law of our nature is always at work, striving, by a syn- 
thesis of comparison and arrangement, to reduce all knowl- 
edge, physical, philosophical, and religious, all to one 
compact system. The mind (perhaps unconsciously) is 
laboring after this by a necessity of nature, in all its search- 
ings after analogies, and attempts at generalization ; it acts 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 189 

on the mental instinct, that truth is but one idea, one infin- 
ite whole, the product of the one reason ; and to this state 
of unity it is constantly aiming to reduce all its concep- 
tions and knowledge, as the only state in which the whole 
of its knowledge can be mastered. Now the same repre- 
sentation holds true of the moral world. The will is per- 
petually aggressive, laboring to conquer and convert all 
things around it to its own purposes, and to change them 
into its own nature. But here the conflict, as far as it is 
instigated by Satan the great rebel, and actuated by sin, 
is direct hostility against God. It is not carried on in 
subordination to established law, as the elemental conflicts 
of nature are; nor in obedience to the immediate mandates 
of heaven, as the ministries of angels are; but in direct 
hostility against God. It arms the understanding against 
the dictates of revelation ; and the passions against the pu- 
rity and self-denial of the divine requirements; and the 
will against ' all that is called God, and that is worshipped;' 
it arms every member as an instrument of unrighteousness, 
and precipitates the whole man into the battle-field occupi- 
ed by the hostile forces of good and evil. 

But happiness is the coincidence of the finite will with 
the infinite ; in other words, it is holiness. And w T ho 
would wish to be happy at the price of that ? who ; what 
rational or enlightened being would desire to be happy at 
the expense of the divine character and government 7 at 
the sacrifice of seeing the creature erected above the Crea- 
tor? But though all the universe should desire the enor- 
mity, it could not be : for happiness, we repeat, is nothing 
more, and nothing less, than the coincidence of the finite 
will with the infinite. That infinite will, in the person of 
the Holy Spirit, is come into the world, expressly to sub- 
due all things to himself: for shall he alone, he the Su- 
preme Mind, be inactive ; he, whose every movement is 



190 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

alon g the Hne of lig h t , whose eve ry congest , St he r eco„ 
ery of his own, and his every breath the creation and diffu- 
sion of happines % No ; he seeks to remedy the errors of 
the mind, by becoming the one reason of every individual 
understanding ; to correct the selfishness of every separate 
heart, by becoming the centre and law of all mankind — 
the one heart for the whole colossal mass of humanity. 
The primitive church presents us with an instance of his 
uncounteracted agency ; ' the whole multitude of them 
that believed were of one heart, and of one mind;' on 
them his agency took full effect ; he became the heart of 
the whole community, and every particular pulse found its 
health by beating in unison with it. Until he works, each 
individual human spirit is striving to be a centre of influ- 
ence to itself; but harmonious subordination to the Supreme 
Spirit is happiness, is heaven ; and hence the absolute ne- 
cessity of coming under his subjecting and transforming 
power, in order to the enjoyment of heaven. 

V. The happy result of regeneration by the Holy 
Spirit is the production of a corresponding principle of 
spiritual life ; * that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.' 
That which he creates may be material ; but that which 
he begets in his proper character, his moral capacity, must 
partake of his nature and likeness. The possession of an 
immortal spirit indeed, is common to all men ; for ' there 
is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty 
hath given him understanding.' But it is in the power of 
ein to erect the material paTt of our nature into a state of 
dominion over the spiritual ; to dethrone the soul, and give 
it in captivity to the flesh ; and, in this unnatural state, the 
mind is degraded with the name of its material tyrant and 
is called, & fleshly mind. Now it is the glory of the Di- 
vine Regenerator, that he turns this flesh into spirit ; he be- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 191 

comes a soul to our soul, lifting it out of its materiality, 
and restores to it again its lost prerogative of dominion, 
He makes it spirit. 

And, in restoring it to the exercise of its peculiar func- 
tions, he is said to give it life. As long as it is held in 
subjection to the flesh, it is represented as being dead while 
it lives ; but by breathing upon it, he restores it again to 
the life of God. Henceforth, it not only lives itself, but 
throws a life into al] its spiritual exercises, and is dissatisfi- 
ed unless God infuses a life into all its religious privileges. 
In the enjoyment of this new-found existence, it pants after 
God, can be satisfied with nothing less than divine com- 
munications, and seeks to receive its nourishment from the 
hand of God. One of the distinctive characters of phys- 
ical life, is its power of assimilating materials of different 
natures to its own substance ; like that, the regenerated 
soul is endowed with the power of converting the various 
events of time into the mysterious means of its nourish- 
ment, and even of turning obstacles into its own form and 
character. As its divine Author puts forth his power to 
produce it, so it proclaims its descent, and honors its par- 
entage, by putting forth a corresponding power in its en- 
deavors after holiness. At times, indeed, its possessor may 
utter a complaint of impotence, ' that when he would do 
good, evil is present with him ; 5 but so probably he would 
complain, were his spiritual strength considerably greater 
than it is. The complaint is often to be regarded, not so 
much as an evidence of weakness, as a sign of that dissat- 
isfaction with every thing short of perfection, which is a 
distinguishing feature of the spiritual life; being born 
from above, it pants after the perfection of its native region, 
it essays to rise, and is impatient of every thing which im- 
pedes its aspirations, and detains its flight. It feels the at- 
traction of that supreme central good to which all goodness 



192 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

gravitates ; and, like the earth, which is always laboring 
in its onward course to gain the sun, it is always striving 
to reach its centre : to escape beyond all the influences of 
sin, and to attain the region of heavenly life. And it 
demonstrates its celestial descent, by persevering in its aim 
till it triumphs. The divine Spirit, who begot it, will not 
more certainly triumph over all the array of sin which 
the world contains, and cast it out ; than the new principle 
of regenerated life will continue to work, till is has expel- 
led sin from the soul, and is conducted victorious, into the 
presence of its Divine Parent. 

The name which the Divine Regenerator prefers, and by 
which he chooses most frequently to make himself known, 
is the Holy Spirit. It is owing to his love for holiness, 
and his ability to produce it, that he has undertaken the 
office of changing the human heart. If he were not cer- 
tain that he should renew the soul, and assimilate it to his 
own holy nature, he would not come into contact with an 
object so polluted, and depraved, and unlike himself. But 
• that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit ; ' and, as the 
offspring of infinite holiness, it so completely possesses the 
believer with a desire for sanctity, that he rejoices in tribu- 
lation, accepts the furnace, and exults in the flames, if by 
passing through them, he may lose his impurity, and 
emerge in the likeness of God. 

Like its spiritual progenitor, the renewed spirit must 
have an unconfined range. It is made free of the universe 
and eternity, and cannot submit its diffusive benevolence to 
the restriction of limits. Without deserting the concen- 
tric circles of self, and family, and party, and country, and 
contemporaries, it goes forth, expatiating and rejoicing in 
a sphere which encompasses all these, and which itself 
knows no circumference. As an organized part of uni- 
versal being, it seeks to diffuse and multiply itself through 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 193 

all the mass, by the circulation of unlimited happiness. 
Beyond the confined range which it labors to fill with its 
own personal activity, it seeks to be present, not merely in 
aim and affectionate desire, but by engaging the gracious 
agency of its infinite Author. Thus it makes an ap- 
proximation to universal love : imitates the infinity of the 
divine goodness ; and is distinguished by a subordinate 
omnipresence of benevolence. By drinking of the water 
which Jesus gives — .'this spake he of the Spirit' — it pos- 
sesses within itself ' a well of water springing up to ever- 
lasting life.' Though it shall be cut off from all created 
streams, it has a fountain of its own, fed from a higher 
fountain ; a perpetual spring in immediate communication 
with the well-head of life. Its alliance with the Infinite 
Spirit raises it to a state of independence of the creature, 
confers on it a kind of spiritual self-sufficiency. And, final- 
ly,as nothing but God could satisfy God, so the renewed soul 
demonstrates its divine descent by disdaining, as emptiness 
and insult, less than the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 
That, indeed, which is born spirit of Spirit, is necessari- 
ly limited in its likeness to God by the natural and strait- 
ened conditions of humanity. It has nothing in common 
with some of the attributes of its divine Parent ; for, ab- 
stractedly considered, they are incommunicable. It has 
little more than a name, in common with any of his attri- 
butes ; for the holiness, the wisdom, the goodness w r hich it 
derives from him, are infinitely less than the same qualities 
as possessed by him. But though it does not possess an 
identity of nature with these attributes, it is its glory that it 
can boast a likeness, a similitude which takes in every lin- 
eament of his moral image. It is true, that his nature 
obliges him to produce some things in us, in consequence 
of our depravity, of which there is no archetype in him- 
self ; yet even these peculiar features are the counterparts, 

12 



194 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the necessary impressions of certain parts of his own 
character. Repentance, for instance, is one of the first 
fruits of his renewing operations : but repentance in us, 
answers to holiness in him. ; it is only the process by which 
infinite purity is seeking to reflect and behold its image in 
our breast. 

The new creature is an entire impression ; an imperfect 
and a miniature representation, it is allowed : but still an 
entire impression of its spiritual Author. All the excel- 
lencies necessary to make up absolute perfection, do not 
more certainly reside in the character of the Spirit him- 
self, than all the corresponding qualities, necessary to make 
up the sum of sanctified excellence, exist in that which is 
born of the Spirit. When the prophet restored the dead 
youth to life, he did not more carefully extend himself over 
the whole surface of the body, adjusting his eyes, and 
mouth, and hands, to the corresponding parts and organs 
of the deceased, that the whole body might revive, than 
the divine Spirit joins bosoms, applies himself in regener- 
ation to every part of our moral being, to resuscitate and 
restore the whole. He leaves no dead or palsied part : but, 
diffusing life and activity through the entire frame, he 
would have us to develope and work out every principle 
and function of our new nature in the service of God. 
Or, to use a scriptural figure, he delivers the soul into a 
mould from which it cannot fail to receive the unmaimed 
and entire impression of a man in Christ Jesus. 

VI. And our Lord predicted, as the crowning effect of 
the operations of the Holy Spirit, ' He shall glorify me ; ' 
a prediction which is realized in various ways. The ad- 
vent of the Spirit, in the cause of Christ, was itself an 
event which conferred on that cause transcendant honor. 
Had myriads of angels been dispatched instead, to fly 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 195 

through the midst of heaven, preaching the everlasting 
gospel to the inhahitants of the earth, even that would have 
given us lofty ideas of the exaltation of Christ ; but that 
the infinite Spirit himself should have come at his inter- 
cession, and in his service, this indeed glorifies Christ. That 
he should come expressly to convince men, not merely 
that they are sinners, but that they are sinners especially 
against Christ ; and not merely so, but that the sin of re- 
jecting him is the greatest sin they can commit ; that it is 
the master sin, the capital offence of the longest life of im- 
piety including the essence, and surpassing the guilt of all 
other sins combined together ; how unspeakably is Jesus 
magnified by this act of the Spirit ! 

He engages to renovate the soul through the medium of 
truth ; now what honor does he confer upon Christ, that 
he should pass by all other kinds of truth, and should take 
that, and employ that only which relates to Christ. Does 
he not thus teach us, by his own example, to count all 
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus our Lord? Does he not say to us, inactions 
louder than words, 'This is the sum of all science; this is 
the only knowledge that can incorporate and mingle with 
your being; this is life eternal, to know the true God, and 
Jesus Christ whom he hath sent ;' and all other knowledge 
is real only so far as it is symbolical of this. He under- 
takes to change the heart ; to produce in the will, where 
all the strength of man and all the powers of sin are con- 
centrated and entrenched, an entire revolution ; a work so 
great, that to create a human being is represented as easy 
in comparison ; for it is not merely to evolve something 
out of nothing, but to produce a contrary from a contrary, 
to bring light out of darkness, love out of enmity, holiness 
out of essential impurity; and hence, to mark the om- 
nipotence, the infinite outgoing of power which the work 






196 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

demands, the day in which he does this is called ' the day 
of his power.' Now what honor does he confer upon 
Christ, that without employing any force, without doing 
any violence to the constitution of the soul, he should effect 
this mighty change, which angels cannot behold without 
bursting into a rapture of admiration, by simply taking of 
the things of Christ and showing them to the soul. He 
asks for no other weapons than these weapons of love, 
these things of Christ. As if he should say, ' Give me 
these ; and I will change the sinner into a saint. Arm 
me with these; and I will pass into his soul as the antag- 
onist of sin, disturbing and tracking it in all its windings, 
and expelling it from all its recesses : I will change his 
pride into humility ; his enmity and unbelief into faith and 
love. And I will do this by illapses so gentle, by a pro- 
cess so natural, and so coincident with the operations of 
his own mind, that, were not the effects essentially divine, 
he would deem the agency that effected it essentially hu- 
man.' He engages to conduct the soul to happiness ; to 
merit at his hands the name of the comforter. How does 
he magnify Christ then, by leading the sinner direct into 
the presence of Christ, as the only method of fulfilling his 
engagement; confessing, by the act, that apart from Christ 
even he could not give the soul comfort. 

In the prosecution of his work, the divine Spirit em- 
ploys a model to which to conform the renewed soul ; for, 
as he finds the character of man depraved, deformed, and 
awfully unlike what it should be, he proposes to give it 
beauty, and excellence, and perfection. What honor then 
does he confer upon Christ, by making him the pattern after 
which he works, the model by which he moulds and fash- 
ions all believers. He takes of the things of Christ and 
shows them to the soul, expressly that it may catch their 
temper and likeness. He holds before its eye the mir* 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 197 

ror of the gospel, that, beholding as in a glass the glory 
of the Lord, it may be changed into the same image. Ef- 
facing from the soul the image of the earthy, he imprints 
in its stead the likeness of the Lord from heaven : nor does 
he count the work complete, till the soul is completely 
conformed to the perfect model. 

And the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ by rendering him 
the object of supreme affection and delight to all believers. 
The uniform effect of his teaching is, that they ' rejoice in 
Christ Jesus.' They distinctly see that there never was 
any righteousness in the world but his ; that there is no 
excellence in the universe except his, and what is derived 
from him. They feel therefore that, while there is no sin 
equal to that of disregarding him, there can be no act which 
harmonizes with so many of the original and best prin- 
ciples of our nature, or which is so much an occasion of 
joy, as that of receiving Christ Jesus the Lord. When 
the Spirit was poured out from on high, the church was 
flooded with light ; but, like the angel standing in the sun, 
the central object of that light was Christ ; the church 
was thrown into a transport of joy, but the subject of that 
joy was Christ; his name was on every tongue, his love 
filled every heart. And wherever the divine Spirit ope- 
rates, the same supreme delight in Christ invariably en- 
sues. He comes to herald the way for Christ ; to throw 
open the temple gates of the heart for the reception of 
Christ ; to announce the titles, and display the excellencies 
of Christ ; that the soul, beholding the glory of its royal 
guest, may receive him with acts of worship, and accla- 
mations of delight. And having admitted Christ, the be- 
liever discovers that he has admitted God ; the all-compre- 
hending fulness of God. Henceforth he can never lift his 
eye towards him, but his heart assumes a posture of com- 
placent adoration and joy ; and, when he has been implor- 



198 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ing and putting himself under the influence of the blessed 
Spirit, the name of Christ fills his soul with light and 
glory. It is a name which has an attraction for every 
thing great and good in the universe. The eye 'does not 
more rapidly sweep the midnight magnificence of the 
starry heavens, than the renewed mind, at the mention of 
his name, makes the circuit of creation gathering up all 
that is glorious in its course, as related to him, and emblem- 
atic of his excellence. 

But this prediction looks forward to a more glorious ful- 
fillment than any which it has ) r et received : a period when 
the Holy Spirit shall glorify Christ in these various respects, 
not merely in the conversion of a sinner here and there, but 
when the sphere of his operations shall embrace the world ; 
when he shall become the soul of the world, the great ani- 
mating spirit of mankind, leading them as with one heart 
and one hand to crown the Savior, Lord of all. But the 
prediction is of greater compass still; it teaches us to look 
onward to the period, when Jesus ' shall come to be admir- 
ed in his saints, and glorified in all them that believe.' 
He determines that he will reap a large harvest of human 
hearts, of sanctified affections ; and he has sent the Spirit 
into the world to collect this revenue, to gather up this glory 
for him ; and then the Spirit will have completed his task, 
will have glorified Christ ; for it will then be seen that he 
has clothed every believer in the righteousness of Christ ; 
renewed them all after the likeness of Christ; that with 
no other instrument to work with than the gospel of Christ, 
he has operated on a vast mass of depravity, on a multitude 
which no one can number of sinful souls, and has renewed 
and. made them resplendent, and crowned them with the 
glory of Christ. 

VII. Such is a somewhat connected view of the princi- 
pal original truths, with which the Great Teacher enriched 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 199 

his church, concerning the operation of the Holy Spirit. 
I will point attention also to two or three isolated declara- 
tions, calculated to show the importance of receiving his 
influence, as well as to give a practical application to the 
preceding remarks. 

' Verily I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphe- 
my shall be forgiven unto men ; but the blasphemy against 
the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And who- 
soever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be 
forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the Holy 
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, 
neither in the world to come.' What form of denunciation 
can be conceived more calculated than this to warn the tri- 
fler that he is on holy ground, and to bespeak for the whole 
doctrine of divine influence the reverence of a prostrate 
soul. The sin denounced is, probably, the rejection of the 
last and greatest evidence of the Messiahship of Christ ; 
the dispensation of the Spirit. Up to that point of unbe- 
lief, the Jews were within the reach of forgiveness. Their 
blasphemy against Christ ; their rejection of all the evi- 
dence arising from his character, his miracles, the testimo- 
ny of John, and the distinct fulfillment in him of numer- 
our prophecies ; even the act of nailing him to the cross ; 
all this did not consummate their guilt, and render their 
condition hopeless. It was, indeed, approaching as near 
to the edge of the precipice as possible without actually 
falling over. It was closing their eyes against evidence 
which ought to have convinced them that Christ was the 
Messiah ; but still there was further evidence to be submit- 
ted to them, and evidence of a superior kind. The mirac- 
ulous dispensation of the Holy Spirit, attesting as it would 
his resurrection from the dead, and his exaltation at the 
right hand of God, and bringing as it would the right arm 
of Omnipotence visibly to certify his claims, was reserved 



200 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

for that closing- proof. Till that should be found unavail- 
ing", their impenitence could not be pronounced final. But 
should they reject that, they would be resisting the last 
proof that would be given, that Christ is the Son of God, 
and the Savior of sinners ; with their own hands they 
would have subscribed the sentence which doomed them to 
perdition ; they would have added the final shade of hor- 
ror to their condition, anticipating ' the blackness of dark- 
ness for ever.' 

But let the specific sin denounced be what it may ; and 
possibly it is left indeterminate, that it may shed a caution- 
ary influence over a larger space ; the denunciation sur- 
rounds the doctrine of divine influence with a guard, as 
terrific as the barriers placed about the mount that burned. 
It has no parallel in the word of God; and is only infe- 
rior, in its power to inspire dread, to the awful sentence of 
the last day. Where all besides is pleasant as the garden 
of the Lord, it stands out a terrible anomaly — a volcano 
fast by the tree of life. He who incurs its terrors, is hence- 
forth an outcast from grace ; a proclaimed anathema ; de- 
voted to damnation ; the heir of unknown treasures of 
wrath. Reader, as you would dread to take even the first 
step in the direction of this tremendous sin ; as you would 
tremble to think of entering into its mountainous shadow; 
trifle with nothing which relates. to the agency of the Holy 
Spirit. That agency is truly 'for your life.' Sin has 
brought you into the crisis of the second death ; and his is 
the only hand that can apply the only remedy. In his 
offers and influence, God may be regarded as collecting up 
all that is gracious and solemn in the vast economy of re- 
demption, and coming to bring the whole, as far as you are 
concerned, to an issue ; as making his nearest and final 
approach to your spirit : as you value eternal life, then, 
let there be no symptom of disinclination to receive him. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 201 

But this is not enough ; when he spoke of the Holy- 
Spirit, the Savior would have his disciples to lift up their 
thoughts, to enlarge their expectations, and form the loftiest 
conceptions of excellence and grace ; declaring, that the 
advent of the Spirit would more than compensate for the 
loss of his own personal presence. What must be the 
value of that gift which would supply the place of the orb 
of day, and make us cease to deplore his extinction ! Of 
infinitely surpassing value must be the gift which could 
indemnify the church for the personal departure of its 
Sovereign Lord. Yet such a gift is the Holy Spirit ; the 
soul of the church, and the life of the world : for so much 
of the Spirit as there is in the world, precisely so much, 
and no more, is there of life. 

In the history of the natural creation, it is recorded that 
until he brooded upon the face of the waters, the earth was 
without form and void ; but he infused into it a vital ele- 
ment ; and what a world of beauty arose ! an enlargement 
of heaven ; the treasury and temple of the material uni- 
verse. And, until he came into the new creation, the work 
of salvation was at a stand. The sacrifice for sin had been 
offered ; the atonement accepted ; all the elements of sal- 
vation were in existence, but without life ; all the blessings 
of grace were ready, but the Spirit was wanting to convey 
them into the soul. And when he came, and commenced 
his office, what glories transpired ! The Savior had not 
merely foreseen these ; his holy mind had often luxuriated 
in the scene, had dwelt with unimaginable delight on the 
prospect of the Spirit returned to the world, and employed 
in its renovation. The valley of dry bones was around 
him ; the place he inhabited was a moral sepulchre ; but 
he saw the Spirit about to become the soul of these slain, 
to breathe into them a higher order of life than they had 
yet lived, enabling them to do divine exploits, to defy and 



202 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

triumph over death. Before him lay stretched out, wher- 
ever he turned, an ocean of woe, brackish with human tears: 
the Dead Sea, embittering, poisoning 1 , and turning to ashes 
the fairest fruits of earth j and exhaling vapors fatal to all 
human joys. But he saw the divine Spirit ; the waters of 
prophetic vision ; issuing forth from the sanctuary of hea- 
ven, a new element of life ; 'going down into the desert, 
and into the sea, to heal the waters. And it came to pass 
that the waters were healed, and every thing lived whither 
the river came.' 

Humanity, to his view, appeared as one body, one migh- 
ty growth and stature of sin, demoniacally possessed by 
the prince of the power of the air, and putting forth all its 
gigantic powers in exploits of evil. But he saw the power 
of his exorcism at hand and rejoiced ; ' Now,' said he, ' is 
the judgment of this world ; now shall the prince of this 
world be cast out.' He beheld human nature released 
from the foe whose name is legion ; renewed in all its 
powers ; raised to a holy rivalship with angels ; and pre- 
pared to be the ornament of a new creation ; and all this 
resulting from the advent and operation of the Holy Spirit. 
The profound complacency with which he dwelt on the 
vision, evidently showed that he deemed nothing too great 
to be expected from the coming of the divine Spirit ; and 
that he desired to communicate to his disciples his own 
enthusiasm, to fill them with anticipations as enlarged and 
glowing as his own. 

He intimates that, of all the gifts which we can solicit, 
or he impart, a greater cannot be named than the donation 
of his Spirit. ' If thou knewest the gift of God, and who 
it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldest 
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living 
water ; ' he would have bestow r ed on thee the gift of his 
Spirit, extinguishing all thy wants at once, and leaving thee, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 203 

through eternity, nothing to crave. And who can com- 
pute, who can exaggerate the value of this gift 1 Had we 
originally classed with the beasts that perish, as mere ani- 
mated clay ; and had he then raised us in the scale of be- 
ing by adding our immaterial and immortal soul ; we could 
not have looked back on our brutal pre-existence, or have 
felt the consciousness of our new-found powers of mind, 
without standing amazed at the greatness of the gift he had 
conferred. But here he speaks of a super-addition. He 
has given to us one spirit; but he proposes to give us 
another, to make us all the richer by an additional Spirit. 
He has given a soul to our body; but he would not have us 
to suppose that his gifts are exhausted, for he offers to give 
us a soul to our soul. The spirit which he has already 
implanted is human, but that which he has in reserve is 
divine. And, to excite and inflame our desires, he repre- 
sents the divine spirit as his crowning gift; as rendering 
any further additions unnecessary, by absorbing all our 
wants, and comprising the essence of all good. 

Were the natural influences of the Spirit to be denied 
to the material world, who can paint the desolation which 
would instantly ensue ! its pleasant verdure dried up and 
destroyed ; all its harmonies silenced ; its surface strewed 
with the wrecks of what was life; a sepulchral world en- 
veloped with a pall of darkness ; a wandering star in 
which all things were hastening to chaos and desolation. 
As the Spirit of grace, his agency is the life of the spiritu- 
al world. Accordingly, the chief penalty of the apostacy, 
the most deadly element of the curse, was the suspension 
and withdraw ment of his vital presence; by which the 
guilty and deserted soul was left to enter at once on eter- 
nal death — to begin hell on this side the grave. On the 
other hand, it follows, that the restoration of the Spirit is the 
capital blessing of the covenant of grace. As if all the 



204 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

other blessings were represented by this, and included in 
it, the Savior magnifies and names the Spirit alone. While 
in one of the evangelists, we hear him offer all good things 
to them that ask ; from another we learn that, by this all- 
comprehending offer, he expressly intends his Holy Spirit ; 
thus leaving us to infer, first, that universal good, and the 
Divine Spirit define each other; or, that they are one and 
the same thing : and, secondly, impressing us with the 
fact, that the Spirit is the only unchangeable and necessa- 
ry good. Philosophy teaches us that no material object 
on earth has a color of its own ; that, whatever the hue 
which apparently belongs to any object, it may be chang- 
ed ; and the object be made to take the hue of all the pris- 
matic colors in succession. This is true analogically, of 
ail the things and events of this life ; they are not intrin- 
sically good or evil ; do not possess a character and com- 
plexion of their own. The same dispensation may prove 
a curse to one, and a blessing to another; may be an evil 
tOrday, and a good to-morrow ; may come as a favor, but 
be perverted and turned into poison by our depravity; or 
may come as a trial, and be converted into food and life by 
the transforming touch and smile of God. But the gra- 
cious influence of the Spirit is susceptible of no such fluc- 
tuation. Impassive itself, it is yet capable of changing 
every thing else; while able to impress its own character 
on the universe of being, it remains itself unchanged and 
unchangeable ; the only absolute, eternal, and necessary 
good. 

What more can be necessary to turn our whole soul 
into desire ? to turn all our most ardent thoughts and long- 
ings into one channel,pouring forth a copious stream of sup- 
plication for the one great gift of the Spirit? Is it possible 
that we can ask for any inferior good, till we have obtained 
this? Had we an adequate impression of its magnitude 



HIS ORIGINALITV. 205 

we should forget that any other want existed : our entreat- 
ies would rise in energy and earnestness as we moved for- 
ward to the attainment of the blessing ; our cry would as- 
cend, and peal with ceaseless importunity at the gate of 
heaven : would go in unto the Almighty, even into his holy 
place ; we should ask, and seek, and knock, till he had 
bestowed it with a liberality which left nothing for our 
fears to apprehend, or our expectations to desire. 

But is there ground to believe that our earnest applica- 
tion for this ineffable good would be crowned with success 7 
For, in proportion as the value and necessity of an object 
rise on our view, our demand for encouragement to pursue 
it rises also. Two things are observable, in reply. The 
first is, that the gift of the Spirit, which is the only indis- 
pensable good, is the only blessing which is promised with 
unconditional, absolute certainty. And the second is, that 
it is the absolute and essential goodness of this blessing which 
enables the Almighty to promise it unconditionally. If, 
like all subordinate blessings, its character were mutable, 
and its value dependent on circumstances, like them it 
could only be made the subject of a conditional promise; 
the mere mutability of its nature, and the consequent pos- 
sibility of its becoming an evil, would have made it inca- 
pable of an absolute promise. But the intrinsic and im- 
mutable goodness of the gift enables the Divine Promiser 
to say of it, what he can say of no inferior blessing, ' Ask, 
and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you.' 

The student of mechanical philosophy is aware that 
dynamics, or the science of force and motion, enters into 
nearly every physical inquiry ; that it is placed at the 
head of all the sciences ; and that, happily for human 
knowledge, it is one in which certainty is attainable equal 
to that of mathematical demonstration. Indeed — what is 



206 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

true of no other branch of physical science — our knowl- 
edge of dynamics, of motion and its communication, is only 
limited by that of pure mathematics. Now let our present 
subject be denominated spiritual dynamics, and the analo- 
gy of these remarks will be obvious. The Divine Spirit 
is the author of all motion in the moral world ; the science 
of spiritual force and motion, originating in him, is at the 
head of all the doctrines of evangelical religion ; it enters 
into all our religious calculations ; and happily for our 
hopes and endeavors, it is one in which every step may 
be taken with absolute certainty. Indeed — what is true of 
no other promised good — the measure in which we receive 
his influence is determined only by the measure of our de- 
sires after it, or by the limit of our capacity to enjoy it. 
' Every one,' saith Christ, ' that asketh, receiveth ; and he 
that seeketh, findeth.' He would have us observe that he 
is not propounding a theory, but stating a fact; that he is 
expounding a law of the divine government, a law which 
has established a certain connection between asking for 
the Holy Spirit and receiving it ; and that could we appeal 
to all who have made the experiment, we should find that 
this order was never violated ; that could we interrogate 
each of that throng without number who have sought the 
gift, they would testify with one consent, that they all re- 
ceived to the utmost amount of their desires, and abundant- 
ly more. 

Prior, indeed, to the act of regeneration, and as to the 
time and manner of that event, the wind itself is not more 
uncontrollable and free than is the agency of the Holy 
Spirit. He illustrates his sovereignty by acting where he 
listeth : asserts and magnifies the royalty of his grace by 
selecting the most unlikely objects, and thus pouring con- 
tempt on human calculations. But, in all his subsequent 
communications, he voluntarily binds himself to act 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 207 

by a rule which man can understand and employ, volun- 
tarily subjects his influence to the call of prayer, and in a 
sense, resigns his sceptre into the hand of faith. Amaz- 
ing condescension! as if only concerned to bring us to the 
footstool of mercy, and as if fearful lest the recollection of 
his sovereignty should deter us from approaching,he actually 
merges that sovereignty ; yes, at the tremendous risk of see- 
ing us erase the doctrine of his absolute liberty from our 
creed, of hearing us deny the sovereignty of his operations, 
he in effect throws up the high prerogative, brings himself 
under obligation, irrevocably binds himself to answer prayer. 
To encourage our application for the Holy Spirit, the 
Savior appeals from the instinct of parental tenderness, to 
the infinite benevolence of our heavenly Father. ' What 
man is there among you, who if his son asked bread of him 
would give him a stone ; or, if he asked a fish, would give 
him a serpent 1 ' Who would mock the wants of hfe fam- 
ishing child? The testimony of universal experience is 
against the probability of such an act : the thing indeed is 
possible, but so rare, that it has never been deemed neces- 
sary to provide a law for its punishment. So deeply does 
parental affection enter into the heart, that it commonly sur- 
vives every other benevolent feeling ; it is the last affection 
which leaves the nature of a bad man. 'But if ye, being 
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,' said 
Christ; 'how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him 1 ' Could all the 
parental tenderness which the world has contained, from 
the besfinnino; of time till now, be all collected and infused 
into one human heart, compared with the unbounded be- 
nevolence of our Father in Heaven, it would be as a drop 
compared with the ocean. And, therefore, it cannot be 
that the needy and suppliant soul should plead for the gift 
of the Holy Spirit, and his infinite goodness refuse to give. 
Degrade him to a level with sinful humanity, suppose him 



208 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

to be only an earthly parent, still the refusal would be all 
but impossible. Now what a human father will scarcely 
ever fail to do, though he is evil ; God will never fail to 
do, because he is ineffably good. 

But that nothing might be wanting to complete our en- 
couragement and crown our hopes, our Lord represents 
the treasures of divine influence as placed entirely at his 
own disposal. And where would Poverty and Want have 
relief deposited, if not in the hands of unconfined Bounty. 
Like a channel, prepared on purpose to receive and con- 
vey the overflowings of a fountain, he receives only to com- 
municate. As well might the sun be charged with nig- 
gardliness in the dispensation of light; though from the 
moment of its creation, it has been constantly pouring forth, 
in all directions, an immensity of light, sufficient to flood 
with radiance ten thousand worlds like ours ; as to question 
the readiness of Christto impart the influence of the Holy 
Spirit. Let the amazing profusion with which he dispens- 
ed it, on the day of pentecost, testify his grace. Religious 
ordinances, means of grace, a standing ministry ; what are 
these but channels through which he seeks to pour a con- 
stant supply of the river of life for the irrigation of his 
church? what are they but pillars which he has reared as 
memorials of his ascension, to remind us that now we have 
only to ask in order to receive ; that he can now dispense 
the Spirit perpetually and without measure; so that every 
day might be a pentecostal day, a repetition of his corona- 
tion day. 

Having become the repository of divine influence, his 
only solicitude appears to arise from his not finding recip- 
ients to share the blessing. As the heedless and the world- 
ly pass him by, he calls to them in language which shows 
that they could not find more relief in receiving, than he 
would experience delight in giving ; that his benevolent 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 209 

heart is actually burthened with the magnitude of the 
gifts he has to dispense, and y earns for the godlike grat- 
ification of giving them away. ' O if thou knewest the gift 
of God, and who it is that speaks to thee, thou wouldest ask 
him, and he would give thee living water. But ye will 
not come unto me, that ye might have life. Ask, and ye 
shall receive.' You cannot open your eye on the light of 
day, but a thousand rays from the sun instantly enter and 
illuminate your organ of sight ; you cannot inspire, in the 
ordinary act of breathing, without drawing in copiously 
.the vital air ; repair at once to the throne of grace, and you 
shall not raise a craving look for the blessed Spirit in vain, 
your eye shall attract him; inspire, draw in, and you shall 
inhale at every breath of earnest desire, the influence of 
the Holy Spirit. 

The christian church is a region, and the only region 
on earth, replenished with the vital influence of the Holy 
Spirit ; and by making baptism the initiatory ordinance, 
the Savior has significantly taught, that, while all within 
inhale an element of life, ail without are breathing an ele- 
ment of destruction. By appointing the rite to be admin- 
istered ' in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost,' he has sealed us to the day of redemp- 
tion ; he has burnt in, and made indelible, the awful signa- 
tures of Christian discipleship ; reminding us, that, as 
those who have ' been born again of water and of the Spirit,' 
he has given into our keeping a new life, a life supernatu- 
ral and divine; and charging it on us, as we hope to see 
the glorious day which is longed for by all creation, that 
we preserve that life inviolate and ungrieved. 

In allusion to the residence of the Divine Presence in 
the temple, he declares of the Spirit of truth, that ' he 
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.' There is a sense 
in which all the believers, of all ages, are represented as 

13 



210 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

forming 1 one vast and compacted temple, of which the Ho- 
ly Spirit is the living soul, cementing - , animating, and per- 
vading the whole. Now, if important duties devolve on 
you, though you are only a fraction, an atom of the stu- 
pendous fabric inhabited by the Holy Spirit, how momen- 
tous do your duties appear, when you reflect that you 
yourself constitute an entire temple. The Jews had an ap- 
pointed guard to watch their temple, night and day; and, 
though the guard was numerous, each must doubtless have 
felt that he was entrusted with a solemn charge. But what 
would one of them have felt, had the whole trust been de- 
volved on him alone ; and that, too, at a time of peculiar 
danger from a watchful foe : how tremblingly alive would 
he have been to every thing relating to his sacred charge ! 
To you my fellow christian, as to a living sanctuary, the 
Spirit has been given, ' that he may abide with you for 
ever.' Reflect on his divine character and gracious de- 
signs, and then conceive, if you can, of a more sacred and 
weighty trust than that of keeping his temple inviolate. 

Had you originally belonged to one of the lowest spe- 
cies of animal life ; and had he raised you in the scale of 
being, multiplying and enlarging your faculties from step 
to step till reason dawned, what a sense of responsibility, we 
may suppose, would have flashed on your mind as you first 
awoke to the consciousness of your amazing transformation ! 
To find yourself suddenly endowed and entrusted with an 
immortal soul, rich in affections, strong in intellectual pow- 
ers, boundless in its capabilities and desires ; the percep- 
tion of your new accountability might well impress you 
with an awful concern. But a greater responsibility is 
here. The Spirit of spirits, the Fountain Spirit himself 
is given to you, as a principle of new and heavenly life, 
as a divine in-dweller, and you have to keep for him the 
temple of your soul. O then, see to it, that your conduct 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 211 

accords with so sacred a trust. He comes to you as the 
Spirit of truth ; study the mind of the Spirit ; consult his 
dictates as your living oracle. By yielding to the dictates 
of the flesh, your spirit has lost its proper character, its 
discriminating and determining moral power ; hut he pro- 
poses to rescue and reinforce your spiritual nature ; he 
comes to be your spirit, to turn your very flesh into spirit, 
renewing your fleshly mind: do not let it appear by your 
conduct, as if, having carnalized your own spirit, you 
would, if possible, carnalize the divine spirit also, placing 
all spirit in subjugation to the flesh. He is the Comforter; 
the very soul of happiness ; do not grieve him whose object 
it is to solace and bless you. Do not resist him in the exe- 
cution'of his office, while engaged in cleansing and sancti- 
fying his temple. Be not satisfied with merely not griev- 
ing the spirit of God ; but aspire to please him, to magnify 
his office, to enjoy an affluence of his grace, to live in the 
Spirit as in the hallowed atmosphere of a temple, in an 
all-surrounding element of holiness. 



SECTION IV. OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY, AND 

OF A SPIRITUAL CHURCH. 



Among the subjects comprehended in our Lord's origi- 
nal teaching may be named the doctrine of the Trinity. 
There is no ground to conclude, that, prior to the promul- 
gation of the gospel, this doctrine had any claim on the 
faith of mankind. The early christians, indeed, in their 
eagerness to obtain for Christianity the patronage of phi- 
losophy, professed to find the doctrine of the Trinity in the 



212 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

writings of Plato ; but had they maintained instead a dual- 
ity, or a quarternity, the same writings would have equal- 
ly befriended them. The humble pretensions of the Jew- 
ish system were satisfied with proclaiming the existence 
and unity, or oneness of God, in opposition to ' the lords 
many and gods many,' of the heathens ; the allusions which 
the system contained to the triplicity of the divine nature, 
awaited, like so many dormant seeds of truth, the rising of 
the Sun of Righteousness, to quicken and draw them forth 
from their obscurity. 

But though the solemn mystery is sufficiently developed 
in the gospel to demand our faith; though the Great 
Teacher held in his hand the entire map of truth, he dis- 
closed only so much of the part in question as related to 
our path to heaven. In adverting to the abysmal subject 
of the Divine Essence, he maintained a wise reserve : and 
he did this, both that he might not entangle us in a laby- 
rinth, when we ought to be advancing in the open path of 
life ; and because of our natural incapacity to comprehend 
him on a theme on which there are no analogies to assist 
us. ' How shall ye believe or understand me,' said he, ' if 
I tell you of heavenly things ? ' Instead, therefore, of 
theorizing on the subject, he taught it dogmatically and 
practically. 

The doctrine in the general opinion of the christian 
church, is necessarily involved in various parts of our 
Lord's teaching. I shall content myself, however, with 
adverting to his great command, ' Go, then, and make dis- 
ciples of all nations, baptizing them unto the NAME of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' 
Whether he intended these words to be a formulary of the 
rite or not, is immaterial to determine. Their obvious im- 
port is to describe baptism to be a religious dedication to 
God, who is known by the manifestation of his NAME, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 213 

the display of his glorious perfections. Now as this name 
is attributed equally to the Father to the Son, and to the 
Holy Spirit, it seems inevitably to follow, that the Son and 
the Spirit are, with the Father the One God. 

Our Lord instituted but two ordinances — baptism and 
the Lord's supper ; he erected but two monumental pil- 
lars : one without, and the other within the church : on 
the first of these, that which fronts the world, he inscribed 
the great name of the triune God; and, as if to render 
the inscription more impressive, he made it his last act. 
Baptism is the vestibule, or entrance, to his spiritual tem- 
ple, the church; so that before his disciples can pass the 
threshold, he requires them to receive the print of the Sa- 
cred Name : and by making that one ceremony final, he 
reminds them that the holy signature is indelible. By 
baptizing us into the threefold name of God, he would im- 
press us at the very outset of our Christian life with the 
fact, that the work of our salvation is so vast that it brings 
into action every distinction and attribute of the divine na- 
ture ; that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the 
entire Godhead, find ample scope for the exercise of all 
their perfections, and employment for all the affluence of 
their grace. And thus would he put every part and pro- 
perty of our nature, in return, into active requisition in 
his service ; causing us to feel the penury of our utmost 
love, and constraining us cheerfully to own, that, could we 
multiply our powers three, or a thousand fold, they should 
all be his. If, before, we considered our obligations infin- 
ite, what shall we think of them now, on beholding the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three distinct subsis- 
tences, actually confederating and concurring together, 
and embarking all their infinite treasures in the cause of our 
happiness ; what but that our obligations, which we before 
considered infinite, are thus multiplied threefold ! a mul- 



i 






214 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tiplication this which the metaphysics of a greatful heart 
will allow, if not the severer philosophy of the head. 
How amazing the thought, that the Godhead, the three 
glorious suhsistencies in the Divine Essence should be all 
officially present to receive us in the baptismal solemnity, 
the porch of the church ; that all the Divine Being should 
be there, to enter into covenant relation with us, that we 
should there be met by the sum of excellence, and have it 
ascertained to us, that to the uttermost extent of our capac- 
ity we are entitled to the enjoyment of the whole. An 
ocean of happiness placed before those whose hearts over- 
flow with a drop ! ' A presumptuous idea, if our own in- 
vention ; a lofty one, if revealed to us. 5 



' Upon this rock will I build my church.' 
' My kingdom is not of this world.' 



I. Another original subject contained in our Lord's 
teaching, is the existence of a spiritual church. The 
grand conception of organizing and erecting a new com- 
munity, to be distinguished from all the existing forms of 
civil society in the world, by the spiritual nature and de- 
sign of its government, could have only originated in the 
mind of one who had himself seen • the pattern of heav- 
enly things.' Under the Mosaic economy, this exalted 
scheme existed only in emblem. The { church in the wil- 
derness ;' the Isrealitish people, nationally selected, and 
separated from all the nations of the earth ; prefigured an 
approaching separation of a more select and refined nature, 
consisting exclusively of ' Isrealites indeed.' Christ came 
to realize the sublime idea : to be himself the heart of the 
church ; the point around which it should crystalize and 
form: and, in his own person, (humanity inhabited by 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 215 

Deity,) presented at once the image and nucleus of the 
unearthly society. 

II. The voice of prophecy had declared that such would 
be the spiritual character of his new kingdom. For while 
some monstrous type, of brute ferocity and power, was 
deemed an appropriate symbol of each preceding monarchy 
as seen by Daniel, the ensign of the Messiah's reign was 
distinguished by the likeness of the son of man aptly de- 
noting, that while they prevailed by the ascendency of 
physical might, from his kingdom should be banished 
every carnal weapon, and instrument of coertion ; and 
that to him should belong the honor of recognising and 
erecting the prostrate elements of humanity, of reigning 
by the spiritual action of mind on mind, the almighty in- 
fluence of enlightened reason, of sanctified gratitude and 
love. It was distinctly predicted that his kingdom, instead 
of symbolizing with any of the governments of earth, 
should be to the world an image of his own sufficiency, 
surpassing and encompassing them all. At first, it would 
resemble an imperium in imperio, a dominion of principle 
and affection flourishing amidst the kingdoms of the world 
like the verdure of paradise set in the desert ; but in the 
end, as Bacon describes the prevalence of a far different 
principle, ' it bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravish- 
eth all the spheres of government ; ' forming from first to 
last, in the eyes of the world, an anomaly of government. 
Accordingly, when Jesus came to erect it he appeared at a 
loss for suitable illustrations by which to explain it to the 
minds of his hearers. • Whereunto,' saith he, 'shall we liken 
the kingdom of God, and with what comparison shall we 
compare it ? ' None of the governments of the world 
supplied an analogy : he who is the wisdom of God seem- 
ed embarrassed, as he looked around the world of civil so- 
ciety for a similitude, and saw that it contained none. 



216 THE GREAT TEACHER. 






III. But though the constitution he designed to erect 
was a new creation, he constructed it in a manner the 
most unforced and simple. He who asked only the dust 
of the earth out of which to form a creature of divine lin- 
eaments : — he, who took the universal law of animal na- 
ture which seeks the propagation of its kind, and by graft- 
ing on it the sacred institution of marriage, made it pro- 
duce the choicest fruits of the earth ; thus converting and 
consecrating an animal instinct, a principle which man 
possesses only in common with brutes, into a source of 
pure and purifying enjoyment, which more than any other 
natural means, raises and distinguishes man above the 
inferior creation : he asked only the elements of our so- 
cial nature, with which to construct ' his body,' the church. 
' Wherever two or three are gathered together in my 
name,' said Christ, 'there am lib the midst of them.' He 
knew that in obedience to our social instincts, to the law 
which leads us to seek our kind, we should in all ages 
continue to associate : he saw that, in the kingdom of Sa- 
tan, familiar intercourse is one of the principle means for 
extending the contagion of evil, one of the grand ordinan- 
ces of sin, and he determined to give the same principle 
sanctified scope and activity, in a sphere where it might 
prove equally efficacious in the production and reciproca- 
tion of good. 

IV. His church is the court of holy love, filled with of- 
fices and appointments of charity and grace. Bringing 
into it pity, and kindness, and zeal, he baptizes them with 
the spirit of heaven, assigns them each appropriate duties, 
and commands them to find and fabricate their 'happiness 
out of the happiness of others. Here, we are to look on 
the faults of others, only to pray for, and assist in their 
improvement ; and to contemplate their excellencies, only 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 217 

to admire and imitate. By a law of our nature, like seeks 
to associate with like ; and, in his church, he enables holi- 
ness to ally and reinforce itself with holiness ; he essays 
to make the least portion of goodness feel, that it is identifi- 
ed with all the goodness in the universe. The fluid which 
is about to crystalize, does not more certainly assume the 
form of the crystal inserted into it, than believers modify 
and accelerate the formation of their character by associat- 
ing in christian fellowship ; and all assimilate to Christ 
their common type and centre ; according to his prayer 
they become one in him. 

V. Assimilation is a law of our nature, but the tenden- 
cy of this principle in the world is to hasten its moral de- 
composition ; whereas, in the church it is intended to ren- 
ovate and restore the moral health ; and thus render the 
church the salt of the earth. But, to secure this end, it is 
evident that the members of his church must possess a 
character essentially different from the rest of the world. 
And this radical change must take place prior, to their ad- 
mission ; otherwise, there is no guarantee that the world 
will not modify and absorb the church ; rather, there is the 
strongest probability that the principle of assimilation will 
operate. To the triumph of the world, and the destruc- 
tion of the church. 

1. Previous to its formation, therefore, this was the man- 
date that rang through Judea, ' Repent ye, for the kingdom 
of heaven is at hand ; : peculiar elements were wanted to 
constitute this new society: subjects were called for to 
enrol under this new form of government ; and repent- 
ance, transmentation, a change of mind, was the indispen- 
sable condition of enrolment. Its divine Founder follow- 
ed, and intent on its purity, he not only echoed the same 
call, but inscribed over its great entrance-gate the memora- 



218 THE GREAT TEACHER. 






ble sentence, 'Except a man be born again, he cannot enter 
into the kindom of God.' He commanded his disciples to 
go through the world proclaiming repentance and the re- 
mission of sins in his name, baptizing them, (baptizing, 
that is, such as, being capable, obeyed the call to repent- 
ance, and accepted the offer of forgiveness) ; these speci- 
mens of regenerated humanity, already selected by the 
divine hand, and baptized with the Spirit, they were to col- 
lect, and admit by the door of visible baptism into the 
christian church. 

2. That his church is to be composed only of spiritual 
elements, of such only as appear and profess to be the sub- 
jects of a divine change, is evident from the power with 
which he has armed it to expel offenders. ' Moreover if 
thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his 
fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee 
thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear 
thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the 
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be estab- 
lished. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto 
the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him 
be unto thee as a heathen man or publican. Verily, I say 
unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound 
in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall 
be loosed in heaven. Again, I say unto you, that if two 
of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they 
shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which 
is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my 
name, there am I in the midst of them.' 

The whole of this paragraph evidently relates to the 
same subject; containing the rudiments of church govern- 
ment, forming the only authentic and divine platform of 
ecclesiastical discipline. We learn from it, first, that mere 
nominal christians have no room provided for them in his 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 219 

church ; for it is obviously implied that all its members, 
have such habits, of charity and devotion to maintain, and 
such holy offices to fill as the representatives of Christ, and 
duties to discharge requiring his seal and fiat to give them 
validity ; all of so spiritual and distinctive a character that 
they necessarily pre-suppose the possession of nothing less 
than vital godliness. Secondly, it implies that when in- 
stances arise in the church, calling for the exercise of dis- 
cipline, the members of the church alone are sufficient to 
administer the discipline necessary, without the interven- 
tion of any civil authority from without. For, thirdly, it 
might occur that were a civil arm a part of the organiza- 
tion of the church, that arm might be the very part of the 
body requiring excision ; an hypothesis by no means ex- 
travagant, if the spirituality and purity of the church be 
an object; but unless the power of excision be lodged in 
the spiritual community itself, this necessary purification 
could not take place. And, fourthly, it instructs us, that a 
church though composed of only ' two or three,' is com- 
plete in itself j that, like the human body, it possesses a 
self-correcting principle, an expulsive power ; and is com- 
petent to the discharge of all its peculiar duties. 

The correction of incidental evils, and the expulsion of 
offenders, constitute the most delicate and difficult class of 
duties which a christian church has to perform. But the 
task is imperative, and the discharge of it vital to the 
health and purity of the society ; our Lord, therefore, in 
legislating on this subject is unusually particular and en- 
couraging. He exalts the duty of christian reproof into a 
standing ordinance ; appoints the method, and specifies the 
several ascending degrees of its administration, till it has 
been brought to bear in its utmost force and power on the 
conscience of the offending subject. Should it prove inef- 
fectual to his recovery, the only remaining step is his ex- 



220 THE GREAT TEACHER. 






communication. In exercising this solemn function, this 
highest prerogative, they are to come into the presence of 
Christ as the fountain of their power: he declares that he 
will descend to be a party in the final, awful transaction ; 
that as they discharge the painful task, he will ratify it ; 
that as they pronounce the sentence charged with the ter- 
rors of Sinai, he will adopt it as his own, and re-echo it, 
' as if many thunders uttered their voices' in the conscience 
of the doomed offender. And this appeal to himself he 
appoints as final, as the ne plus ultra of church discipline; 
to appeal elsewhere would be an impeachment of his au- 
thority, and treason against his throne. 

And let no one speak lightly of this power of rebuke 
and expulsion. The omnipotence of public opinion, for 
instance, has almost become a proverbial expression. The 
world at present acknowledges nothing so mighty, though 
silent, in its operations. Its slightest, whisper is law to a 
nation. It utters a prediction, and all the powers of socie- 
ty rush to accomplish the prophecy. Unable to endure its 
censure, numbers seek the asylum of the grave ; and 
rather than encounter its denunciations, even thrones have 
trembled and hid themselves in the dust. But in uttering 
rebuke, the voice of the church is public opinion in its 
most concentrated form, borrowing mysterious efficacy 
from the presence and co-operation of an invisible Agent, 
and gathering tones of alarm bypassing through the aven- 
ues of an affrighted soul. As the necessity of punishing 
the offender springs from the first principles in the divine 
nature, so the sentence of punishment harmonizes with the 
first principles of his own nature, meets and coalesces with 
all the remorse in his bosom, finds a ready and loud re- 
sponse from his conscience, and arms him against himself 
Sharper than any two-edged sword, it inflicts a wound on 
the spirit for which earth has no remedy. It is a flash of 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 221 

that consuming lightning, which, leaving the outward man 
unscathed, passes direct to its mark within, scorching the 
conscious soul, and turning all its joys to ashes. It is even 
an anticipation of the last day, a foretaste of that consum- 
mation of terrors ; flashing the fires of the lake that burn- 
etii on the face of the soul ; cutting it off from God, de- 
livering it over to Satan as a sealed anathema, an eternal 
outcast from hope and grace. Such is its efficacy when 
impartially administered, in connection with the other 
branches of christian discipline, to preserve the purity of 
the church, that were it sufficiently known, christians 
would no more think of calling temporal aid into the 
church, than they would of deputing an arm of flesh to 
guide and assist the bolt of heaven to its destined object. 

3. The severe denunciations which Jesus uttered against 
the Pharisees, for ' teaching as doctrine the commandments 
of men ; ' discharging all his thunders on the intrusion of 
human authority into the worship of God, and on the sanc- 
timonious hypocrisy which naturally ensued, indicated 
clearly the spiritual nature of the church which he design- 
ed. He found the world in the church ; but he determin- 
ed to reverse their relative position, to construct and per- 
petuate his new society as a church in the world. ' Every 
plant,' said Christ, and he spoke prospectively, as well as 
in reference to existing evils, ' Every plant which my 
heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.' 
The church is a sacred enclosure taken in from the world; 
brought into cultivation by the divine Husbandmen ; and 
intended to be filled exclusively with the plants of right- 
eousness. On the outside of this enclosure is to be found 
the spontaneous produce of evil, bringing forth fruit unto 
death ; but all within are meant to be ' plants of the Lord's 
right-hand planting,' exhibiting in the fruits they bear the 
essential difference between sin and holiness, and the infin- 



222 THE GREAT TEACHER. 






nite superiority of his transforming grace over the deadly 
produce of depraved nature. But if, in defiance of this 
arrangement, the hand of the world be allowed to interfere, 
his design is defeated ; plants are brought in which are 
not of his selection ; his Eden is degraded into a spot for 
human experiments, in which the produce of grace is sup- 
planted by poisonous exotics, and overrun with the nox- 
ious weeds of human tradition. He designed the church 
to be his own peculium : it is the only fortress which he 
holds in a revolted world ; and he intended therefore, that 
no authority should be known in it, no laws acknowledg- 
ed, but his own : that no parties should obtain admission 
but those ' who are called, and chosen, and faithful ; J so 
that to open its gates for the entrance of any of the revolt- 
ed, however specious the pretext, is a betrayal of the most 
sacred trust, and treachery to the great cause of Christ. 
His high design is, that as Satan has a church (he himself 
speaks of the synagogue of Satan) consisting of the chil- 
dren of sin ; a church in which men have been always la- 
boring to cast off the divine- law, and to confound the dis- 
tinction between good and evil ; so he would have a church 
in which these essential distinctions should again be re- 
stored and exemplified, and in which the beauties of holi- 
ness, seen in their native lustre, should attract the notice, 
and extort the admiration of the universe. These are the 
fruits by which its members were to glorify God ; these 
the unearthly marks by which all men should know them 
as his disciples. 

But then, in order to the success of this grand design, it 
is essential that man should not intermeddle — the process 
is divine throughout. Had Christ taken up his residence 
visibly and permanently on earth, the impertinence and 
impiety of interfering with the arrangements of his church 
would have been too palpable to be attempted. But though 



HIS ORIGINALITY 223 

he has departed, he appointed the Spirit as his successor, 
and promised him as more than his equal in the superin- 
tendence of the church ; the Spirit has come, and in the 
scriptures of his own dictation has presented the church 
with its only code and charter ; so that for man to interfere, 
is either to impugn the divine sufficiency of the Spirit, or 
convict himself of presumptuous impiety. To every 
such intruder the language of Christ is decisive, ' My 
kingdom is not of this world ; ' it has no principle in com- 
mon with the kingdoms of earth ; it refuses all human 
patronage ; rejects, and casts off from itself as alien to its 
nature, the aid of temporal pains and penalties ; and for a 
man to put forth his hand with a patronizing air to support 
it, is to endanger its safety, or to peril his own. 

Whether personally present or absent, our Lord design- 
ed his church to exhibit to the world an image of his own 
sufficiency; to furnish to it a standing representation of 
another world, of other laws than earth obeys, and of a 
higher order of enjoyment and power than man possesses, 
derived from a source independent of all created means. 
But in order to answer its original intention, its heaven- 
ly Founder must be left unimpeded to work out his great 
idea. If his church is to resemble a temple, let it be built 
after the pattern of things in the heavens ; let it have the 
exacts dimensions and proportions assigned by the angel- 
architect, who brought to the work his golden measuring 
rod from heaven, and it will lift up its head into the light 
of day, and tower towards heaven, a stately and magnifi- 
cent fabric, visibly inhabited by the shekinah of the divine 
presence, made transparent by the enshrined glory, and ra- 
diating around in all directions its dazzling beams, so as 
to invite admiration, to repel the presumptuous approach 
and smite with blindness the profane gaze of irreligion — 
rinding in its own glory its lustre and defence. If the 



224 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

church is to attain the fair proportions, and to reach the 
immortal stature of the body of Christ, let her he fed with 
the manna which his own hand supplies, and grow as the 
in-dwelling life shall expand, and be left to the sole guar- 
dianship of his own grace, and she shall move in her own 
light, clad in more than complete steel, having the robes of 
divinity about her, frowning impurity from her path with 
a look, suprising curiosity into blank awe, into involuntary 
and prostrate adoration by her noble grace and bearing, 
and passing on in unblenched majesty, she shall perform 
the heroic works and exploits assigned her by God ; — a 
wonder! astonishing heaven and earth; — 'a woman, 
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and 
upon her head a crown of twelve stars ;' being adorned 
with celestial attire, and crowned with light ; instead of 
seeking to enhance her glory by sublunary ornaments, she 
evinces her spiritual nobility by treading them under foot. 
Oh ! had men revered the evident intention of the Great 
Head of the church ; instead of encumbering religion as 
they have, and weighing her down to the dust with a load 
of earth-made armor, they would have seen her equipped 
in the light, but indestructible panoply of grace, advance 
to her appointed conflict, terrible as a bannered host : car- 
rying with her the sympathies of the groaning creation, 
whose champion she is; trampling her enemies under 
foot, (the earth itself helping her in her straits ;) her weak- 
ness doing the deeds of might, deeds which omnipotence 
might own; gathering up trophies at every step ; and re- 
turning at length from the circuit and conquest of the 
• world with a train of willing captives which no one can 
number, of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people; and 
laden with many crowns for him whose strength had resi- 
ded in her right arm, and who alone had caused her to 
triumph in every place. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 217 

4. But the church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as 
it may be, is that only object on earth, on which he bestows 
his supreme regard. If his attention is divided, it is only 
between his church below and his church in heaven ; but 
in his estimation they are identical, they are only two por- 
tions of the one object which constitutes in his eyes the 
glory of the universe. The affairs of the world, indeed, 
are under his superintendence, but always with an especial 
view to the prosperity of his church. While he extends 
his sceptre, and dispatches his angels to every part of the 
world, he engages to come personally into the midst of his 
church, and to honor their prayers and decisions by regard- 
ing them as laws for his own conduct. The church is his 
mystical body ; and he is present as the vital head, living 
through all its members. It is the theatre of his grace ; 
in which he is making experiments of mercy, on human 
hearts, and effecting transformations so amazing that angels 
look on with astonishment and joy. Here he is training 
up a number of those who were children of wrath, and 
preparing them to take part in the business and pleasures 
of heaven. He -has it in prospect to collect a large reve- 
nue of glory from earth ; and his church is the repository 
in which all that wealth is stored, preparatory to its full 
and final display. His appointment of her ordinances, the 
full-souled ardor of his intercessory prayer that she might 
be with him, one with him forever ; his donation and dow- 
ry of the Holy Spirit ; his rich and constant supplies of 
grace ; his watchful jealousy of all the advances of tem- 
poral power ; and the encompassing wall of fire into which 
his perfections kindle for her protection ; a wall which the 
gates of hell shall not break and enter ; all concur to 
show, that, as the elected bridegroom of the church, he is 
looking forward to the spousal day, when, having made 
herself as a bride adorned for her husband, he shall find 

14 



218 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

in her unwrinkled beauty and spotless perfection, the solace 
and reward of all his love ; and in her full happiness the 
supplement and completion of his own glory. Now he is 
the centre from which radiates all her splendor, then he 
shall be the focus to which it shall all return. His voice 
shall be the only sound to which his church shall listen ; 
his glory the only object on which her eye shall fasten ; 
his grace, matchless and untold, the only theme that shall 
engage her tongue. ' Blessed are they who are called 
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 5 






SECTION V. ON SATANIC AGENCY. 



' The Devil and his angeis.' 



Angelic agency, both good and bad, is a doctrine fa- 
miliar to the Old Testament. That part of the doctrine 
which relates to the ministry of holy angels, indeed, is 
there so fully illustrated, that, although the discourses of 
Christ contain frequent allusions to it, they present so little 
that is new, except the conspicuous part they will enact in 
the solemnities of the last day ; and the fact that they are 
his ; that the few remarks on the subject we propose to ad- 
vance, will relate exclusively to 'the devil and his angels.' 
Concerning these, the teaching of Christ is more copious, 
explicit, and original : as if, in compassion to our fears, the 
full exposure of our danger from hell had been reserved, 
till he could furnish the antidote to those fears by revealing 
the counteracting agency of the Holy Spirit. 

Having assumed the championship of the world, and 
being confident of ultimate triumph, our Lord did not hes- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 219 

itate to confirm our worst apprehensions of the numbers, 
and powers, and malice of our spiritual foes. He opened 
our eyes, and, behold ! the enemy in full possession of our 
world. And, as if the seat of the infernal government had 
been long since transferred from hell to earth, he repeated 
its princely titles as familiar words, enlarged on its domin- 
ion, and pointed out its thrones, principalities, and powers. 
Among these he spoke of one as Satan ; Beelzebub ; a 
liar; a murderer from the beginning ; the wicked and evil 
one ; one who, by trampling on law, had acquired the au- 
thority of a legislator in guilt : one who, by signalizing 
himself as the most daring of rebels, had reached the bad 
pre-eminence of the ' prince of demons.' 

Of the number of his angels we can form only a con- 
jecture : but the fact, that his ' field is the world ; ' that he 
is represented as multiplying himself through their agency 
over the whole field ; and concurring in, if'not actually in- 
stigating, all the evils which it contains, warrants the con- 
jecture that they out-number the human race. Let no 
man, then hope to escape temptation, through any lack of 
satanic agents. He, whose resources enable him to devote 
a legion to torment a human body, cannot be wanting in 
instruments to tempt and destroy the immortal soul. 

Whether sin had ever entered the universe, at any date- 
less period prior to the angelic apostacy, we know not; it 
is certain that we can only trace its history up to that mys- 
terious event. Speaking of Satan, our Lord declares that 
' he abode not in the truth ; ' once, he possessed a throne 
where all is radiant with holiness and joy, but he swerved 
from his allegiance to ' the blessed and only Potentate,' and 
thus lost his first estate. Together with an unknown mul- 
titude of associate rebels, lie was driven from the presence 
of God, cut off from the loyal part of the creation, and 
doomed to be the prey of his own mighty depravity. From 



220 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

that moment he became the avowed antagonist of God ; 
established an infernal empire, and planted the standard of 
rebellion, around which all the principles and powers of 
evil might rally and combine. Actuated by that universal 
law, by which each being and principle seeks to conform 
all things to its own nature, and stimulated by implacable 
hatred against God, he no sooner found our world created, 
than he came to efface from it the image of God and to 
stamp his own on its breast. In the execution of this 
dreadful project he succeeded ; meriting, by the means 
which he adopted, and the dreadful results of his success, 
the titles of liar, the father of lies, and a murderer from 
the beginning. He impregnated the heart of man with 
the awful spirit of revolt, and added earth to his infernal 
empire ; involving the whole species in guilt ; introducing 
death, (now perhaps first known,) into the dominions of 
God; and leading mankind, generation after generation, 
into the outer darkness of his own proper region. And of 
all the vast and complicated agency of evil, by which the 
sinfulness and misery of the woild is perpetuated, he is 
1 the Wicked One,' the Evil, the great efficient cause. His 
throne is the rallying point, to which all evil looks for 
reinforcement and support ; the centre, from which flows, 
and to which gravitates, all evil ; the heart of the great 
system of guilt. 

The domination which Satan has acquired on earth is 
called by Christ a kingdom ; in which he possesses, by 
right of supremacy in guilt, the princely titles, and exer- 
cises the prerogatives of royalty. Unable to expel God 
from his throne, and thus succeed to the homage of man ; 
he had, by a universal system of idolatry, planted his throne 
between the human worshipper and the Divine Being, in- 
tercepting and appropriating the adoration which belonged 
to God alone. But, in order that earth might not quite 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 22l 

forget its rightful Lord, Jehovah was pleased to select a 
people and erect a temple, ex*pressly for the maintenance 
of his true worship. They held their country from God, 
on the express condition of fealty to his throne. From the 
moment of that arrangement, Satan may be said to have 
made a descent on Judea ; its temple was a memorial of 
his tyranny, a standing protest against his usurpation ; its 
worship, a national proclamation, daily repeated, in the 
name of heaven, of his treason and guilt. At different 
times he seems to have put all the forces of his kingdom 
into motion to bear upon it : for to shut up the temple of 
God, to seduce the people to idolatry, to erect an idol in 
the holy place, was to sit on the only throne of God upon 
earth, was a triumph which could only be exceeded by as- 
cending the throne of heaven. 

For ages previous to the divine advent, the world seem- 
ed almost entirely his own. His contest for earthly su- 
premacy, so long disputed by heaven, seemed crowned 
with success. His vice-regencies and powers sat in the 
quiet and unchallenged possession of their thrones. No 
prophet smote them on their lofty seats, or denounced their 
usurpations ; no miracle reminded them of an omnipotent 
antagonist. The world appeared to be as completely theirs, 
to portion out, and rule at pleasure, as if they held it by 
grant and seal from God himself, and were appointed to 
reign in his name. Nor did Judea itself form an excep- 
tion to this wide infernal sway ; for (short of formal idol- 
atry) it belonged to the universal confederacy, and formed 
one of the fairest and most faithful provinces of the satanic 
empire. And, as if to exact a terrible compensation, even 
for this slight nominal deduction from full allegiance, many 
of its inhabitants were held as hostages to hell, by a terri- 
ble system of demonaical possession. Satan had become 
1 the prince of this world,' Wherever he looked the ex- 



222 THE GREAT TEACHER 



panse was his own ; the teeming population were his sub* 
jects; the invisible rulers were his selected agents ; temp- 
tation in his hands had become a science, and sin was 
taught by rule ; the world was one storehouse of tempta- 
tion ; an armory in which every object and event ranked 
as a weapon, and all classed and kept ready for service : 
every human heart was a fortified place : every demon 
power was at its post : he beheld the complicated machine- 
ry of evil, which his mighty malignity had constructed, in 
full and efficient operation ; no heart unoccupied, no spot 
un visited, no agency unemployed ; and the whole result- 
ing in a vast, organized and consolidated empire. No 
sooner, therefore, did Jesus begin to attract the attention of 
Judea, as the ' Sent of God,' than he became obnoxious to 
the tyrant's hate. In the usurped capacity of the sove- 
reign of the world, the tempter went forth and met him, 
asking him only to own that sovereignty, and all the king- 
doms of the world should be his, and the glory of them. 

But the great object which had brought Christ upon 
earth, was to dispute that soyerignty, to re-assert the origi- 
nal and supreme rights of God to the alienated homage of 
mankind, and thus rescue man from the grasp of the Des- 
troyer. What the enemy reserved as his last and most 
powerful temptation, the splendid vision of a thousand prov- 
inces ; was a sight, we may suppose, familiar to the eye 
of Christ ; though seen by him, alas ! under a far differ- 
ent aspect. He beheld in it a scene of woe, which never 
failed to call forth his profound compassion. On all sides 
he beheld the blinded victims of satanic cruelty ; vast, 
crowded tracts of spiritual beings, immortal essences, wast- 
ed, ruined, murdered, lost ; a captive world, chained to the 
wheels of the spoiler, and moving along, (most of them so 
beguiled, as to be actually pleased with the mock pomp of 
the gloomy procession, to endless death. While immedi- 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 223 

ately beneath his eye, in the very land where he had taken 
humanity, he saw legions of fiends in actual, bodily pos- 
session of miserable man. Not satisfied with the evil they 
could inflict by ordinary temptation, he beheld them con- 
summating their cruelty by actually incorporating with 
men ; turning their bodies into living tombs, engrossing and 
demonizing all their powers, merging the man in the fiend. 
Yes, man, who had been created in the image of God, be- 
came ' the habitation of dragons ; ' his heart the fuel con- 
sumed by their passions ; his senses and organs, the slaves 
of their rampant impiety ; hell brought to him, and begun 
in him, upon earth ; an incarnate demon, his features put- 
ting on the image of the legion within him ; — what a sight 
for the Lover of souls ! what a spectacle for infinite good- 
ness to contemplate ! The Savior beheld, and meditated 
relief. He made bare his arm, and the unclean spirits fled 
at his approach. He sent his disciples, first twelve, and 
then seventy, to traverse the land in all directions ; each of 
them armed, and charged, to cast out devils ; and again he 
repeated the charge to his apostles, when on his way to 
ascend from earth to heaven. 

When vindicating the character of his power from the 
imputation of the Pharisees, he affirmed that it was of a 
nature essentially hostile to Satan, and subversive of his 
kingdom. While the foresight of the redemption his 
death would achieve enable d him to speak of the future as 
if it had been present, and to say, ' Now is the prince of 
this world cast out.' The voice of prophecy had declared, 
' He shall divide the spoil with the strong ;' and, in fulfill- 
ment of that prediction, he planted himself full in the path- 
way of the destroyer : he may be said to have erected his 
cross in the highway to hell, that he might rescue sinners 
from the very jaws of perdition. 

Now, as Satan possesses on earth official ubiquity, as he 



224 THE GREAT TEACAER, 

is every where present through the medium of his agents, 
it was not to be supposed that an event so signalized as 
the advent of Christ would escape his knowledge ; or, that 
being known, it would fail to call forth his jealous vigi- 
lance and utmost opposition. Knowing, indeed, as we do, the 
essential dignity of Christ, we might have hoped that, in 
deference to his purity and majesty, temptation would have 
retired from his presence, or have laid its baneful activity 
to sleep ; that the powers of darkness w^ould have left him 
a free and open passage through the world : and that his 
disciples would have found in his hallowed presence a 
certain shelter from the persecutions of hell. But, so far 
from this, his coming awoke all the original antipathy, the 
native oppugnancy, of evil against good. He had come 
into a world in which nothing in human form had ever 
escape the polution of sin ; and he had come here, attested 
by such signal credentials of a divine commission, that 
from the hour of his advent, through the whole of his 
earthly course, Satan appears to have called in his agents 
from every other pursuit, and to have set them in array 
against him alone ; turning away from all ignobler prey, 
he seems to have made him the sole mark for every shaft 
and weapon of hell. As if the temptation of Christ were 
too great an enterprise, a field too momentous, to be left to 
the power of a common arm, the prince of darkness, him- 
self, undertook personally to conduct the untried adventure. 
Having drawn out his forces, and entrenched himself in 
his way, he came into eager and determined collision with 
Christ on the very threshold of his public life ; leaving him 
to infer, that il he persisted in his intended course, his pro- 
gress would be disputed, step by step. 

Nor are the eventful narratives of the evangelists want- 
ing in intimations that the threat was made good. In his 
own express language, especially as that language is after- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 225 

wards illustrated by the apostles, we can only arrive at 
one conclusion, that his whole life was a continued coflict, 
hourly increasing in fierceness and malignity on the part 
of hell, till it came to the crisis of Calvary. ' The prince 
of this world cometh,' said he, ' and hath nothing in me. 3 
1 Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' * This 
is your hour, and the power of darkness.' During that 
dreadful hour, indeed, no foe could be seen by man, but 
such as the gates of Jerusalem had poured forth. And it 
is true, that, had that been the only foe, the enmity of the 
carnal mind had that day collected and led out her chosen 
bands from the halls and streets of the city ; had assem- 
bled and crowded around the cross the darkest elements of 
human depravity. But the great Foe was invisible. Of- 
ten had he assailed the life of Jesus before, but as often 
had he been defeated ; it seemed guarded, like the tree of 
life itself, by a sword which turned every way. But now, 
at length, his persevering malice seemed crowned with suc- 
cess ; the Savior was in his toils, and appeared to be aban- 
doned to his fate : he and his cause would expire in igno- 
miny together ; and mercy pierced through his side, and 
chased from the world, would no more return, but would 
henceforth relinquish man to the undisp ued sceptre of 
hell. 

We cannot but imagine that the thrones and principal- 
ities of darkness were there to witness the triumph ; that, 
flocking together from the east and west, the north and 
south, leaving behind them many an unfinished plot of 
evil, they came and covered the mount, to celebrate his tri- 
umph. And could heaven be absent ? No, the angels of 
God, incapable of repose while such an issue was pend- 
ing, quitted their celestial seats, and surrounded the scene 
with horses and chariots of fire. Stars in their courses 
might have fought during that hour, and have been un- 



226 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

heeded. It was more than an era ; the junction of all the 
eras of time : the event of that hour was to determine, 
whether earth should pass entirely into the hands of Satan, 
or be again recovered into the hand of God: whether the 
expiring rays of human hope should be quite extinguished 
in the blood of Christ, leaving the earth in hopeless night ; 
or, whether his cross should henceforth radiate light and 
life to the universe : it was to draw to a close the great 
question, to terminate the comprehensive controversy of all 
ages between right and wrong, holiness and sin. Hell in- 
flicted the decisive stroke; the shock was received and 
sustained by the heart of the son of God. Then, and not 
till then, did the powers of darkness perceive their error : 
they saw with unutterable dismay, that in bowing his head 
he was dragging the pillars of their empire to the dust ; 
that he was dying to triumph ; that, in effect, his cross 
was changing into a throne. He exclaimed, ' It is finish- 
ed!' and the gates of hell vibrated to the shout. He en- 
tered into the grave for a short space ; there attired him- 
self in the robes of triumph ; came forth to receive the 
gratulation and homage of angels and men; and ascended 
to his new mediatorial throne, ' leading captivity captive, 
and making a show of them openly.' 

It is by no means unlikely that some persons, on com- 
paring this statement with the moral condition of the 
world, may be tempted to think, that, if the death of our 
Lord is to be viewed as a triumph over hell, we greatly 
overrate its practical results. To such a suspicion it may 
suffice to reply, that our language is only the echo of 
scripture, of the declarations of Christ himself. That, 
1 we see not yet all things put under him,' we readily ad- 
mit ; that a large proportion of the satanic empire has not 
yet been even summoned in his name ; and that much of the 
kingdom which nominally belongs to Christ has not real- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 227 

]y transferee! its allegiance from Satan, are facts we deep- 
ly deplore. But, first, he distinctly predicted this prolong- 
ed activity and power of the enemy. A consideration, 
secondly, which should induce us to credit his other pre- 
dictions of perfect triumph in the end. Especially as, in 
the third place, we recognise in his mediatorial work, all 
the essential elements of that triumph ; the character of 
God, which Satan had obscured, made more illustrious 
than before ; the most affecting and decisive proof that 
God, in punishing sin, is perfectly just and infinitely good ; 
the dignity and happiness of the creature, which Satan had 
placed in revolt, not only consisting with a state of subjec- 
tion to God, but depending on it ; divinty and humanity, 
which Satan had traduced and represented as antagonist 
natures, brought into the close embrace and union of one 
person ; the forgiveness of sin, which the enemy supposed 
imcompatible with the divine rectitude made more com- 
patible with that rectitude than even the punishment 
of sin would be ; new incentives to holiness, and an infi- 
nite augmentation of every previous motive to resist sin ; 
and to crown all, the almighty agency of the Holy Spirit, 
to expel from the heart ' the strong man armed, 5 and to en- 
throne in his stead, ' a stronger than he.' And, fourthly, it 
appears that, wherever these elements of triumph are 
brought to bear on the human heart, they infallibly achieve 
success ; demonstrating the glorious superiority of Christ 
to ' all the power of the enemy.' 

The church which he has formed has been reared in the 
immediate presence of hell in arms ; every member belong- 
ing to it is a vassal rescued from the empire of sin ; many 
of them were once even the pillars of that empire. As 
the spiritual erection has proceeded, it has been approach- 
ed by stratagem, and beleagured in form ; but it is ' built 
on a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 



228 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

it' When the seventy returned to him, saying, ' Even the 
devils are subject to us through thy name,' he received the 
announcement as matter of course ; his eye had followed 
them wherever they had gone ; and, surveying futurity as 
already present, had beheld in their success the earnest of 
a triumph in which ' Satan should fall like lightning from 
heaven : ' looking through all the intermediate clouds and 
storms of time, he gazed complacently, as in sceptred state 
on the serene atmosphere of the world, purged of all its 
evil elements, and fit to be breathed by the inhabitants of 
heaven. When surrounded by circumstances of the deep- 
est depression, he said, with the calm confidence of majes- 
ty enthroned with all its rivals at its feet, ' The prince of 
this world is judged,' ' Now shall he be cast out.' Even 
then he saw, in perspective, the completion of his triumph 
and beyond: his prophetic ear, even then, caught the dis- 
tant shout of his redeemed church. He knew, that when 
he should exclaim, ' It is finished,' the powers of darkness 
would hear in that cry, the knell of their empire; that 
when his name should be shouted from land to land, as 
the watchword of salvation, its every echo should shake 
and bring down the fabrics of that empire. 

And now it is finished, the work of redemption is com- 
pleted ; all that remains for him to do, is perfectly compat- 
ible with a state of rest ; ' from henceforth he is expecting 
till his enemies be made his footstool.' Having fought the 
battle, he has dispatched his subjects to pursue the enemy 
to win the victory, and collect the spoils. As long, indeed, 
as this remains unaccomplished, he will not consider his 
office fulfilled, or his reward complete. As long as a sin- 
gle principle of evil continues at large, the universe is 
threatened, the safety and peace of the Savior's empire are 
liable to invasion and revolt ; 'he must reign, till he hath 
put all enemies under his feet.' Nor, till then, will his 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 229 

kingdom be in a state to be ' delivered up unto God, even 
the Father ; ' he has undertaken, expressly, to ' gather out 
of it all things that offend, and them that do iniquity ; ' to 
restore it to a state of purity and perfection worthy to be 
known as the work of his hands ; fit to be accepted, and in- 
stated again, as an integral part of his dominions, ' who is 
of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.' And, as he sits 
enthroned, with all power in his arm, it is true, that to 
him, even now, is the prince of this world cast out, and 
the last enemy destroyed. He beholds the prince of the 
power of the air already in flight; followed in disorder by 
the routed remains of his once gorgeous and imperial 
state; thrones, dominations, and powers; the tyranny of 
six thousand years; sailing through the air, and fading 
from the view ; he looks upon the world, his own world, 
subdued by love, exorcised of every element and atom of 
evil ; another heaven ; catching, and reflecting, and mul- 
tiplying his own image, and God is all in all. 

And here we should quit the subject, did we not suspect 
that certain inquiries have been suggested in the course of 
the essay, some of which, if left unnoticed* might impair 
the salutary effect which it might otherwise produce, and 
all of which admit of a practical application. 

Concerning the nature of the beings of whom we are 
speaking, we only know that they are spirits ; by which, 
probably, all that is meant is, — not that they are absolute- 
ly unembodied, to be only spirit is most likely peculiar to 
God alone ; but that they are exempt from the gross mate- 
riality of bodies like our own. By calling them spirits, 
our Lord would probably remind us of the facility with 
which they obtain access to our minds, and would put us 
on our guard against the subtlety of our operations. The 
circumstance that we are ignorant of the way in which 
they reach our mind, is no objection whatever to the doc- 



230 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

trine that they do reach it ; our incapability of tracing 1 
many of our sensible impressions beyond the mere sensa- 
tion itself, leaves the fact of such impressions unques- 
tioned. Besides, a priori, we should have thought it more 
unlikely that matter should act upon mind, that material 
objects should act on that which seems to have no property 
in common with them, than that mind should act upon 
mind, two homogeneous substances on each other. Yet 
experience tells us, that the former action is always going 
on in the process of our mental perceptions ; and the latter 
we presume, is all that is meant, physically, by Satanic 
agency ; of which indeed a counterpart and illustration 
is to be found, in the action of one human mind upon 
another. 

Nor is the doctrine invalidated by the objection, that we 
are unconscious of such extraneous influence ; this only 
shows the facility with which the Tempter acts, and is the 
triumph of his art. He so times and modulates his whis- 
pers, that we mistake them for the voice of our own 
thoughts ; so conceals his agency, that while we fancy we 
are sailing before the impulse, and floating dowm the stream 
of our own free volitions, his hand is on the helm : thus 
flattering our pride, scoffing at our weakness, and steering 
our destiny at the same time. We ourselves suppose that 
there is an established order in which our thoughts suc- 
ceed each other ; that, detached and promiscuous as they 
appear to be, they are linked together with all the strength 
and sequence of a chain, and the principle which thus unites 
them we call the principle of suggestion, the law of associ- 
ation. Now, admitting the existence of such a law, a law 
common to all minds, like gravity to all matter ; operating 
by mental affinity and attraction — it is only to suppose that 
Satan has mastered this principle ; that the result of the 
experience of many thousand years, in studying the struc- 



HIS ORIGINALITY, 231 

ture, watching the movements, and experimenting on the 
properties of mind is, that he knows the universal bearing and 
operation of this principle ; and what a fearful amount of 
power, what an immense command over the human mind, 
may he possess in the knowledge of this principle alone. 

But whatever the grand secret of his dreadful art may- 
be, the strongest language is but barely equal to express 
the reality of the power which he wields over the mind. 
He is represented as actually ' entering into the heart ; ' 
becoming the gloomy and fearful inmate of the soul ; 
mingling his his very essence with the being of a sinner, 
' Get thee behind me Satan,' said Christ to Peter, when J 
that apostle acted the part of the Tempter. And 'one of ' 
you,' said he, when speaking of the traitor, ' one of you 
is a devil.' Evil is no doubt, at times, attributed to Satan, 
not because he has directly produced it, but because he loves 
it; and those who have wrought it have imbibed his spir- 
it, and are employed in his service ; such therefore, may 
appropriately take their name from him, from whom they 
have derived their nature. 

To excite our most solicitous avoidance of the enemy, as 
well as to describe his nature, he is repeatedly called, by 
Christ, an unclean spirit. It is not every unclean thing 
that offends the sight, while the slightest stain upon some 
things will excite in us deep dislike ; the feeling depends 
entirely on the nature of the thing, and the purpose to 
which it is applied. We pass by an unclean stone unnotic- 
ed ; it is unconscious of its state, and was meant to be 
tra^npled under foot. But, rising a step higher in the scale 
of creation, to an unclean plant, we become conscious of a 
slight emotion of dislike ; because we see that which might 
have pleased the eye, and have beautified a spot in the crea- 
tion, disfigured and useless. An unclean animal excites 
our dislike yet more ; for, instead of proving useful in any 



232 THE GREAT TEACHER, 

way, it is merely a moving pollution. But an unclean 
human being excites our loathing more than all : it pre- 
sents our nature in a light so disgusting, than it lessens 
our pity for him, if he be miserable, and excites in us ideas 
of disease, contamination, and pain. But an unclean spir- 
it ! — it is loathsome above all things ; it is the soul and es- 
sence of pollution ; it is the uncleanest object in the uni- 
verse ; it is a spectacle which excites the deep dislike of 
God himself. His dislike of it is all the more intense, be- 
cause, originally, it was pure, and capable of making per- 
petual advances towards divine perfection ; whereas, now, 
it presents itself to his eye, robbed of all its purity, and de- 
filed in all its powers, a fountain of pollution. It is so ut- 
terly unfit for its original employment and state, that the 
pure and holy God has no alternative, but to banish it from 
his presence as a spiritual nuisance, and to consign it to 
the place which he has reserved ' for every thing that defil- 
eth' To yield to temptation, then, is to put ourselves into 
the hands of him with whom contact is contamination : it 
is to receive into the centre of our being the great spirit of 
uncleanness ; and to let our own spirits be degraded into 
the sink of essential pollution. How unspeakably precious 
to the sinner, sensible of his ingrained defilement, is ' the 
fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.' 

' When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walk- 
eth through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I 
came out ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept 
and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself 
seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they 
enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man 
is worse than the first.' This awful picture of demoniacal 
possession, is expressly stated, by Christ, to be a parabolic- 
al representation of the Jewish nation. But its applicabili- 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 241 

ty to a nation, warrants the propriety of applying it to cer- 
tain states of the individual sinner. And what an affecting 
view does it present of the untiring, encroaching, all-en- 
grossing power of the enemy! how solemnly does it warn 
us to resist his first approaches ! Having obtained a lodg- 
ment in the heart of the ungodly, he consults their vicious 
taste, panders to their depraved appetites, and thus seeks to 
make himself necessary to their peace. - In the sin which, 
most easily besets them he finds his power, and a conven- 
ient avenue by which he can always command an entrance 
and a welcome to the inmost chambers of their souls. 
They arise in the morning, without being able to say 
whether he will have gained a fresh triumph over them 
before night or not : they have so often yielded, that they 
feel it will only depend on whether they are tempted or 
not : if he comes in the shape of their favorite sin, they will 
surrender again as a matter of course. They perceive, in- 
deed, some of the evil consequences which will attend it; 
they dread his approach; they foresee that it will occa- 
sion them anguish afterwards; but he has only to appear 
in the form of the tyrant sin, and they throw themselves 
prostrate at his feet, while he casts his chain around them 
once more. From the moment he achieves his first triumph, 
he seeks to make the heart ' his house; ' till, having trans- 
muted it into his own nature, though he should go through 
the whole world seeking rest, he would find none so con- 
genial as that human house. Circumstances may occur 
which may induce him for a time to quit his residence. 
But if during that interval divine grace does not seize the 
throne of the heart, it will again be reclaimed, and re-en- 
tered with a large reinforcement of the enemy, and held 
with a seven-fold power. He will patiently wait if neces- 
sary, till they have outlived the alarm which led to his 
withdrawment ; wait till they have passed through every 

15 






242 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

downward stage of fear, doubt, indifference, obduracy, en- 
mity ; wait for years till he is again solicited to return and 
resume his power. Then does he avenge his temporary 
expulsion with fearful rigor. Every faculty of the mind 
is entered and possessed. The serpent sin coils around 
the heart, and infixes his fangs, with a power which 
threatens never to unloose. 

Are we disposed to entertain hard thoughts of that ar- 
rangement of the divine government which permits our 
exposure to satanic wiles ? It should be enough for us to 
remember that God will finally justify, not only this, but 
all his ways to man. This arrangement, however, is only 
part of that all-encircling mystery — the origin of evil — so 
that to notice it here would be gratuitously to misplace it. 
We will only suggest, therefore, in passing, that the divine 
Being, in not preventing satanic temptation by the arbi- 
trary exercise of power, is only acting consistently with 
the requirements of a moral government ; a government 
which opposes principle by principle, and not by physical 
force or coercion ; that, as the virtue of good men finds an 
appropriate sphere for action, and is improved by resisting 
the influence of the wicked, so it is highly probable the 
excellence of the holy angels is exercised and advanced by 
their efforts to counteract the powers of evil; that the Al- 
mighty may be considered as doing every thing necessary 
to vindicate his benevolence, by counterbalancing the agen- 
cy of the evil, by the activity of his holy angels ; while, 
in superadding to their activity in our behalf, the omnipo- 
tent aid of his Holy Spirit, he is greatly magnifying his 
grace ; that, in securing the final triumph of that kingdom 
which embraces all the elements of moral good over that 
which comprehends every thing of evil, he is entitling 
himself to an infinite revenue of glory ; and, finally, that 
a principal ingredient in the happiness of the redeemed, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 243 

will result from a clear and comprehensive survey of those 
tremendous powers of evil over which they will have tri- 
umphed. 

In the mean time, it should he borne in mind, that in no 
instance in which Satan acquires dominion over the sinner 
does he obtain it by force ; the means which he employs 
are perfectly compatible with human freedom ; so that the 
surrender of the sinner is voluntary, he sells himself to 
work iniquity. If the enemy sow tares in the field of the 
church, or of the individual mind, it is done ' while men 
sleep ; ' if he ' cometh, and catcheth away the good seed 
sown in the heart,' it is when the subject of it ' understand- 
eth it not ; ' does not lay his mind to it ; or, if he re-enters 
the soul, after a transient absence, with seven-fold strength, 
it is only when ' he finds his house empty, swept, and gar- 
nished,' to welcome his return. The sole secret of his 
power over us, is to be found in our own depravity ; the 
soul may be ' set on fire of hell,' the live coal may be 
brought from the infernal fires, but the combustible materi- 
als were already collected and laid in the depraved soul. 
And, accordingly, though our depravity is frequently as- 
cribed to ' the wicked one,' yet his agency is never alleged 
as an excuse for our sinfulness, but, on the contrary, as its 
last aggravation. 

We have already remarked that the days of the reign 
of Satan are numbered : the chain which is to bind him is 
forged, and the fires which shall encircle him are already 
kindled, • the breath of the Lord like a stream of brim- 
stone hath kindled them.' And the day is appointed when 
they who have lived his willing slaves shall find them- 
selves involved in the coils of the same chain, and enveloped 
in the same penal fires. The Judge of all 'shall say unto 
them on his left hand, Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting 
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' Those who 



244 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

have tempted, and they who have embraced temptation, are 
the two classes which comprise all the pollution in the 
universe ; as such, the besom of destruction shall sweep 
them together into one place; as the refuse of sin, the nui- 
sance and leavings of the creation, Gehenna, the recepta- 
cle of all the elements of pollution, shall enlarge its capa- 
cious bosom to receive them ; where, as the appropriate 
fuel of almighty wrath, they shall ' burn together, and none 
shall quench them.' 



SECTION VI. — OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL J 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 



1 1 am the resurrection and the life.' 



That question in religion which takes precedence of 
every other; the existence of God excepted; and which 
gives character and importance to them all, is the ancient 
inquiry, entailed with unabated interest on each succeed- 
ing generation, ' If a man die, shall he live again ? ' In- 
dependent of revelation — if indeed any of the human race 
have ever been quite independent of it — men have gener- 
ally anticipated a future existence, as a doctrine harmoniz- 
ing with their desires and wants, and with the character of 
a righteous moral governor. The instinctive horror with 
which the soul recoils from the thought of annihilation ; 
its ardent longing after a perpetuity of life, and its strong 
presentiment of it ; its constant progress in knowledge and 
power up to the moment of death ; its capability of ab- 
stracting itself from this world, and conceiving of univer- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 245 

sal natures, and nobler states of being; the prodigality 
with which it lavishes its great powers dn unworthy ob- 
jects, owing to the inadequacy of every thing earthly to 
engage them ; the necessity of the hope of immortality to 
develope and give scope to its latent powers ; and the prin- 
ciples and design of a moral government, in punishing sin 
and rewarding virtue ; these considerations are so many 
steps by which men have emerged from the sepulchre, as- 
cended the throne, and, in hope, seized the crown of im- 
mortality. Now throughout the kingdom of animated 
nature, wherever an organ or faculty is to exist character- 
istic of the species to which it belongs, a kind of pre-as- 
surance is given, a practical anticipation that it will, by 
and by, be developed ; nor is this prophecy ever falsified. 
The most perfect human being is, at best, in this world, 
nothing more than an unfinished sketch of humanity ; a 
creature full of these pre-assurances and anticipations 
of future developement, and final perfection : unless, then, 
his instincts and essential principles are a splendid false- 
hood; unless the divine signatures impressed on his na- 
ture be a forgery, a grave imposture, unless humanity it- 
self be a lie, a deep-laid conspiracy against all right and 
happiness, we are warranted in the hope of immortality. 
Under the government of a righteous Being, we naturally 
look for an illustration of his character in his works ; we 
ponder the volume of nature, and find it to contain one vast 
and compacted argument for the divine perfections ; but 
deny to man a future existence, and the argument is flawed, 
and the character of God, which it professes to vindicate, 
stands impeached. 

We, however, who enjoy the light of the gospel, are lia- 
ble to over-rate the argument derived from nature, and to 
forget that, to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of 
death, nothing short of a divine revelation can give to the 



246 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

hope of immortality stability and repose. For, iti that 
consciousness of guilt which is common to all mankind, a 
suspicion arises in the mind that the natural course and or- 
der of things have been deranged, a shadow of uncertainty 
comes over our best reasoned speculations, and we feel 
at a loss to say what course the king of a boundless em- 
pire may see fit to pursue towards the rebellious subjects 
of an insignificant province. Here the opinions of a Soc- 
rates, and a Plato, of a Cicero and a Seneca, though often 
quoted, are only, at best, the conflicting conjectures of 
minds alternating between hope and fear. They beheld 
with dismay, the human race walking in gloomy proces- 
sion to the grave : and, as they saw them disappear in the 
land of shadows, they sought with strained and untiring 
gaze, to follow their steps and learn their fate; and had 
not revelation come to our aid, their opinions would have 
deserved respect, and would have often passed the lips of 
the dying in the stead of truths. But they themselves 
were conscious of distressing doubt: while, at one time, 
they spoke as from the skies ; at another, they uttered the 
language of the sepulchre ; according as hope or fear 
was the oracle of the moment. 

Revelation authenticates the hope, and fulfills the obscure 
predictions, of this great instinct of humanity — an endless 
existence. It did so, partially, under the Jewish dispensa- 
tion : at one time, darkly hinting the doctrine, to magnify 
the hopes or fears of men ; and, at another, pourtraying it 
in definite forms, to engage their faith : now, dispatching a 
messenger from the unseen world ; and, now, clothing a 
prophet with the terrors of an unearthly visitant, and plant- 
ing him in their way to bring them to a standby warning 
them of a fearful something beyond. But the light which 
it held over the sepulchre flickered, did not burn so strong 
but that it might have been extinguished by the deadly va- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 247 

pors of the tomb: and hence, the views of his disciples wa- 
vered also ; sometimes speaking in tones of depression, as 
if their whole horizon were the walls of a charnel-house; 
at other times by a kind of lofty divination peculiar to the 
wise and good of every age, (for every good man is, in a 
sense, a prophet), making near approaches to the truth ; 
anticipating revelations reserved for after times : and then, 
again, seizing their harp, and singing their triumphant 
song, as if their immortality had already begun. 

But the full revelation and proof of the doctrine of a 
future state were reserved to grace the mission of him who 
in his own person, is ' the way, the truth, and the life.' 
We do not, indeed, conceive these to have been the chief 
or specific design of his advent ; though it is a part of the 
glory of that design that it includes them: 'he hath 
brought life and immortality to light by the gospel.' If 
he found them problems, he left them axioms ; promoted 
them to the rank of postulates in his system of truth ; 
made them the basis of the whole christian fabric. Hea- 
then philosophy halted at the grave ; ancient revelation ac- 
companied its disciples /a little beyond, conducting them 
into Sheol, Hades, the unknown state ; Christianity comes 
to our aid in the very moment of desertion, stands to receive 
us at the very place of parting with every other religion, 
graciously approaches and offers its guidance up to the 
throne of God. If, prior to the coming of Christ, the doc- 
trine of immortality was undefined and unsubstantial ; if, 
like the spectral phantom of Eliphaz, the believer could 
only say of it, ' It passed before my face ; it stood still ; but 
I could not discern the form thereof; ' he may be said to 
have embodied the truth, to have fashioned and impersonated 
it in his own glorious body. Having rolled away the stone 
from the sepulchre of human hope, he invites us to look 
in and instead of the dust, and darkness, and loathsomeness 



248 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

proper to the grave, we behold the linen clothes lying by 
themselves' — the apparel of the prison-house vacated and 
left — and angels in white, sitting to re-assure our hope, 
and point us to the skies. 



I. In naming the most original features of our Lord's 
teaching on this subject, the first, in order, is the doctrine 
of an intermediate state. Pre-supposing the immateriality 
and immortality of the soul, he frequently employed lan- 
guage which denotes the active existence of the soul be- 
tween death and the resurrection. ' Fear not them,' said 
Christ to his disciples ; ■ fear not them who kill the body, 
but are not able to kill the soul' Then the soul and the 
body are distinct existences : the body may be slain, and 
yet the soul escape. But insensibility would be virtual 
destruction to the soul ; for we cannot conceive how a 
thinking being can be more destroyed than by losing the 
power of thought: then the soul will not cease to think. 
But the only reason, why the soul is indestructible by 
man, must be its immateriality ; the body he can destroy, 
for that is material ; and if the soul resulted from any sub- 
tilization, juxtaposition, or combinations of brute atoms, 
that could be apprehended, burnt, divided, exhausted, ex- 
ploded, destroyed also. But, no, saith Christ, ' it is not de- 
structible by man.' The suicide has no weapon with 
which he can reach the soul. Persecution, though it has 
taxed its ingenuity to the utmost, and has called in the in- 
ventive aid of him who is a murderer from the beginning, 
has failed to devise any instrument with which it could 
seize and torment the soul : has felt and inwardly cursed 
its impotence, that in consuming the body of its victim, 
it was actually releasing the immortal soul. The soul has 
nothing to do with death ; if persecution will have the 
body, the soul surrenders it, leaves it behind, drops it in the 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 249 

grave, and passes on to immortality. Indeed, had the con- 
trary sentiment prevailed, there is reason to conclude that 
Christianity would have had a much smaller number of 
martyrs to boast ; they would have shrunk from death, not 
to avoid the physical suffering, but the loss they were cal- 
led to sustain, the dreary suspension of all the enjoyments 
the gospel had brought them ; that would have given to 
death a new sting. But the fearful apprehension never 
seems to have visited their minds. A primary article in 
their martyr-creed was this ; ' Absent from the body, pres- 
ent with the Lord.' They felt that their noblest life had 
its root in heaven ; that their spiritual existence was ' hid 
with Christ in God ;' was seated high up, beyond reach, 
in the very fountain and summit of creation. At thought 
of this, the apparatus of death became consecrated in their 
eyes, as the means of their admission to his presence ; the 
instruments of torture glowed with a glory reflected from 
his throne; the flames were chariots of fire to convey them 
in triumph to their appointed thrones. 

The doctrine of an intermediate existence is recognis- 
ed by Christ, in the parable of the rich man and Lazar- 
us : where we learn that the former, dying, lifted up his 
eyes, being in torment ; while the latter was straightway 
conveyed, by angels, to Abraham's bosom. Spirits are 
evoked by Christ, from heaven and hell, to attest an inter- 
mediate state. He would have us to read the doctrine by 
the lurid glare of infernal flames, and by the radiance of a 
celestial vision. He taught it also in the light which he 
flashed on t,he divine declaration, 'I am the God of Abra- 
ham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob :' ' God,' 
said he, * is not the God of the dead, but of the living.' The 
Almighty had uttered this three hundred years after the 
death of Abraham: now, whatever relation he may sustain 
to the lifeless body, and to the inanimate creation at large, 









250 

he can only be said to be a God to the living soul. On the 
former he can only bring to bear his natural attributes, can 
only exercise mechanical power ; while, on the latter, he 
can turn the full aspect of his moral perfections, can bring 
his transcendental attributes, the peculiar glory of his char- 
acter, can bring all his nature into active communication 
with theirs. Whatever he may do to mere matter, he does 
to an unconscious object, to a thing which can return him 
no look of gratitude, no expression of affection ; while the 
soul finds its heaven in his smile, and he beholds the reflec- 
tion of his image in its face. Wherefore, 'he is not ashamed 
to be called its God :' by which we are to understand that 
he glories to be called so ; he tells it to the universe ; 
boasts of the relationship ; is willing to be judged of by bis 
treatment of his spiritual offspring ; is prepared to rest his 
claims to universal homage on the glorious provision to 
which he brings them in heaven ; is so satisfied with that 
illustration of his excellence which he beholds in the pres- 
ent condition of the spirits of just men made perfect, that, 
could we see their blessedness, he would be content to be 
known only as their God ; and, accordingly, one of the ti- 
tles which he has adopted, and graven on his crown of 
light, informs us that he is 'the Father of Spirits.' 

Another declaration of Christ, to the same import, is his 
memorable reply to the expiring malefactor, 'Verily, I say 
unto thee, to day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' The 
sense of this passage has been made by some, indeed, to 
turn on a question of punctuation. But receiving it in its 
general acceptation ; the only acceptation we apprehend, 
which common sense will ratify ; we learn from it the ca- 
pability of the soul to exist independently of the body ; the 
instant transition of the soul, at death, to the state adapted 
to its moral character ; and the fact, that it there immediate- 
ly enters oh its endless portion. 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 251 

II. The resurrection of the body was a dogma already- 
familiar to the Jews ; but this doctrine our Lord illustrated, 
amplified, and confirmed. Aware that it formed the key- 
stone of Christianity, he may be said to have labored out 
the proof of it till he brought it to demonstration. i Ye do 
err,' said he to the Sadducees, who denied a resurrection, 
* not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. ' 
Here, first, he dismisses the question of its possibility by 
placing it at once in the hands of omnipotence. Secondly, 
he places around the doctrine a guard of divine declara- 
tions ; thus reminding us, that if God has said the dead 
shall be raised, the event is as certain as if it had already 
occurred and become matter of history. And, thirdly, 
he alleges as a reason for the event, the relation which 
God sustains to his people — ' he is their God ; ' and is 
bound, therefore, by a pledge voluntarily given, to do every 
thing for them essential to their well-beinsf : but the restor- 
ation of their bodies is essential to the integrity of their 
nature ; then his faithfulness is pledged to restore them. 
Besides, he is the God of the living ; but a constituent 
part of their nature is held in captivity by death, then to 
vindicate his title as their God, he must effect the redemp- 
tion of the body, and replenish it, in common with the soul, 
with immortal life. Agreeably to this declaration, the Sa- 
vior elsewhere affirms, ' This is the Father's will who hath 
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose 
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' He 
was commissioned by the Father to accomplish the work 
of redemption, in a manner worthy of him whose peculiar 
distinction it is, that ' his work is perfect.' He holds him- 
self responsible, therefore, for the re-production of the bodies 
of all his people": he has set his seal upon each of their 
graves ; and, of all that he holds in trust, he declares that 
he will lose, not merely not one, but ' nothing ' — not a frac- 



252 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tion, not a particle essential to one of the bodies of his 
saints. During the short period that he himself remained 
in the grave, he held his person dishonored by the bond' 
age ; and, till the morning of the resurrection arrive, he 
regards his people as dishonored : the completion of his 
engagement, and the perfection of his reward, require that, 
1 of all which have been given him he should lose nothing? 
But our Lord did not limit his proof of a resurrection 
to words ; he proceeded to demonstrate the truth by an 
appeal to our senses. On one occasion, he released an in- 
dividual whom death had just made his prisoner. On an- 
other occasion, he met the king of terrors at the gate of a 
city, conveying a victim to the grave ; and he arrested his 
march, and reclaimed the prey. And, on a third time, he 
brought Lazarus forth from the grave, who had been dead 
four days. On that occasion, he had intentionally delayed 
to interfere, that the process of decomposition might com- 
mence ; he had given to death every possible advantage ; 
he had voluntarily kept away, till death should be in full 
possession ; till the monster had not merely seized his vic- 
tim, but had retired with him into the gloomy dominions 
of the grave, till he had there closed and barred up the en- 
trance, and fortified himself, as in a strong hold, which none 
should dare to assail, and where he might reign secure. 
But Jesus summoned the citadel of death, broke open the 
enclosure of the grave, and with a voice which compelled 
submission, demanded, and restored to life, his deceased 
friend. 

And then, to complete and consummate the proof of a res- 
urrection, he himself arose from the dead. The way in 
which that grand event demonstrates the doctrine of our 
resurrection is this — he came into the world in the high 
capacity of the Son of God, and the Savior of mankind. 
In that capacity he proclaimed, that, having provided sal- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 253 

vation for die human race, he would come again when his 
plans of mercy were completed, to raise the dead and to 
judge the world. To prove that he was what he claimed to 
be, and that he would fulfil what he predicted, he announ- 
ced, that he himself would arise from the dead on the third 
day after his decease. ' Then said Jesus unto them, When 
ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that 
I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my 
Father hath taught me, T do these things.' ' Destroy this 
temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.' He de- 
scended into the dreary domains of death ; disappeared in 
the valley of the shadow of death ; and for a time a darkness 
deeper than that which enwrapped the earth at his cruci- 
fixion seemed settling down on the prospects of mankind, 
and turning his tomb into the grave of immortality. But 
on the morning of the appointed day, he came forth as he 
had said, stood at the mouth of the sepulchre, radiant with 
immortality, planted the banner of hope on the citadel of 
death, and called on the world to behold and share in his 
triumph. Then he is the Son of God ; then he will come 
again to raise the dead : here are the undeniable stamp 
and seal of heaven that all his representations of the last 
great day were true, and will certainly be verified. 

III. Amongf the numerous additions which he made 
to our knowledge of the doctrine in question, we may 
name, first, the fact, that he himself will raise the dead. 
* Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour 
is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice 
of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live.' Wheth- 
er this prediction related to the approaching resurrection 
of Lazarus and others, or to the tide of spiritual life which 
was about to flow through the world in the diffusion of the 
gospel, is uncertain. Perhaps, indeed, his comprehensive 



254 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

mind may have looked forward to both ; it is evident, how- 
ever, that the sublimity of the prediction, and the solemn- 
ity of the asseveration with which he prefaced it, awoke 
in the minds of many of his hearers, vast and awful ideas 
of some impending event, ideas which impressed marks 
of astonishment on their anxious countenances. Remark- 
ing that astonishment, perceiving, by their eager and atten- 
tive looks, that they were now prepared to receive a still 
more stupendous announcement, he continued, ' Marvel not 
at this ;' « I perceive that what I have already said has 
filled you with wonder, and well it might ; but attend and 
you shall hear still greater things than these ; for the hour 
is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done 
good, to the resurrection of life ; and they that have done 
evil unto the resurrection of damnation.' There was a 
time when no life existed ; when the earth, just brought 
into being, presented one universal blank, no vital motion, 
no breathing life upon it. But he spake, and it was done : 
for his word is the seed of universal nature, the principle of 
all life. His fiat went forth, and instantly whole orders 
of sentient beings sprang into happy existence. His good- 
ness opened, and burst forth in a creation; and earth was 
made the receptacle of his vast overflowing life. His voice 
was heard; and forthwith the surface of the earth teemed 
and overflowed with an ocean of living forms. ■ But by 
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and 
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned !' 
Since that tremendous catastrophe death has reigned upon 
earth ; there is no reason to believe that his ravages are 
known in any other part of the dominions of God ; this 
is his native seat and throne ; here he keeps court and re- 
gal state ; God has been constantly replenishing the world 
with new life ; but in every age, death has swept and cleared 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 255 

the stage, has thrown a pall over each generation, has not 
allowed the grave to be closed, the hatchment of the world 
to be taken down for a moment, has carried every thing 
before him. We and our contemporaries are the few sur- 
vivors of the myriads that have fallen, the children of the 
slain, and we shall soon be added to the number. Oh, 
could we see the numberless victims, which have fallen be- 
neath his stroke accumulated together, we should behold a 
mountain of mortality towering to the skies ; but he has 
hid them all in the dust, has conveyed them all away to 
his subterraneous caverns, his ever-enlarging prison of the 
grave. 

Now it was not fit that death should thus reign : though 
we, indeed, had deserved to be left in his eternal possess- 
ion, yet it did not comport with the benevolent designs and 
glory of God, that death should be thus allowed to enjoy 
an undisturbed triumph over the work of his hands. He 
therefore, who at first had peopled the earth with living 
beings, again returned to survey the scene, to check the 
career of death, to repair the waste and ravages which 
death had made. And, oh ! what a mournful sight pre- 
sented itself to his eyes ; a pestilential element breathed 
by death over the whole creation, withering all nature, 
causing the entire universe of being to languish, and droop, 
and perish ; the world, his world, which was meant to be the 
pleasant habitation of his creatures, turned into their grave ; 
the shadow of death settled down upon all, and enwrapping 
it like a funeral pall signifying that all was his. What a 
pitiable spectacle stretched beneath his view! — For, re- 
member, he surveyed the whole at one comprehensive 
glance ; mothers weeping for their children, and refusing 
to be comforted because they were not ; every where, groups 
of mourners collected, weeping over those whom death 
had seized, bound, and made captive in their presence \ 



256 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

long processions of bereaved relatives, following the car of 
death as if to grace his triumph, and uttering their lamenta- 
tions in their march to the grave : on all sides, the trophies 
of death, erected in the shape of tombs, and sepulchres and 
monumental stones. What must have been his emotions, 
as the Lord of life and pity, as he walked the field of death, 
this place of skulls ! What were his emotions ? Did he 
not show what they were by his conduct ? ' He healed all 
manner of sickness, and all manner of diseases among 
the people ;' in other words, he defeated the designs of 
death ; drew out the arrows which death had infixed, and 
healed the wounds they had made. Even, had he done 
nothing to redeem the world, his visit would, still have 
been an era in the annals of mortality ; the Lord of life 
walking through the regions of death. No wonder the 
sick and the dying came flocking, and fell down at his feet ; 
no wonder they besought him to shelter and save them 
from the monster which even dared to chase them into his 
presence. And did he not save them ? he healed them all ; 
death paused, and stood rebuked in his presence ; found 
himself overmatched ; discovered, for the first time, that 
there was one mightier than he. And had all the world 
brought out their sick and their dying, Christ could have 
healed them all j thus famishing death ; thus creating a 
hiatus in the revenues of death. Nor was this all: he 
called some back into life again ; and humbled the power 
of death by compelling him to relinquish his prey. 

Do we ask what his feelings must have been as he tra- 
versed this Golgotha, this land of death? ' Jesus wept V 
yes, he stood and wept ! And as he wept, he resolved to 
remedy and to save. He advanced to the very gates of death 
and proclaimed with a voice which went pealing and echo- 
ing through all the dominions of death, and made even 
the throne of the king of terrors vibrate and tremble, ' I 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 257 

am the resurrection and the life ; ' * I will be known as the 
antagonist of death ; let my actions prove it ; ' Lazarus, 
come forth ; and he that was dead came forth.' There 
said Christ, ' He that believeth in me, though he were dead 
yet shall he live.' ' That is only a specimen of my de- 
signs. I am the great principle of life ; if I chose, I could 
now raise all the dead ; I could end the reign of death at 
once; I have only to speak, and all the dead would recog- 
nise my voice, and start into life ; but wisdom requires me 
to forbear; this is meant as an instance of my power, a 
sample of my designs.' ' Marvel not at this therefore ; for 
the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves 
shall hear the voice of the Son of man and shall come 
forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of 
life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
damnation.' 

IV. In opposition to the Pharisees — the principal sect 
at that time among the Jews — who taught that the resur- 
rection would be partial, being confined to the bodies of 
the just, our Lord taught that it would be general. God 
works by laws, and laws operate universally : every ac- 
tion, and every atom in the universe has its own law; is 
impressed with certain qualities, or endued with certain 
powers, which operate with all the certainty of a law. It 
was the appointment of God, that the sin of the first Adam, 
as the federal head of the human race, should bring in a 
law of death, and the law has acted universally — all have 
died. It is equally his appointment, that the mediation of 
the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, standing in the 
same federal relation, should bring in a law of life; he 
was pleased to endue it and impress it with this vital pro- 
perty or law ; and unless it should meet with counteraction 
from a mightier law, which is impossible, it must act uni- 

16 



258 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

versally. 'As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be 
made alive.' It is the perfection of a law, that it includes 
all possible cases that may occur,and has relation to an in- 
finite number of cases that never will exist ; so that, had 
the actual numbers of the human race been multiplied 
ten thousand-fold, the law of death would have swept them 
all into the grave ; and, ' the law of life in Christ Jesus,' 
would, with an operation co-extensive, have revived them 
again. * All that are in the grave, shall hear his voice 
and shall come forth.' 

Besides, it should be remembered, that the resurrection 
is not a final act ; it is to take place in subserviency to the 
divine purposes of retribution ; so that the principles of the 
holy government of God require that it should be univer- 
sal. Less than the resurrection of all would not satisfy 
the claims of the righteous Judge. Were one of his peo- 
ple to be lacking, his mercy could not be satisfied ; his 
mystical body would be maimed and deficient in an essen- 
tial member. Were one of the ungodly to be absent, his 
justice could not be satisfied. Whether good or evil, all 
will be raised ; every age, every nation, every family, every 
individual of all the posterity of Adam. Death shall be 
abolished and swallowed up in victory. Not only shall 
its operation be arrested, its ravages stopped, but all the 
victims which it has seized from the beginning of time shall 
be reproduced and restored. It shall behold all the or- 
ganized materials which it had dissolved, and scattered, 
and trampled in the dust, and labored to efface from the 
creation, collected and surrounded, and acted upon on all 
sides with a principle of life ; and rising, as from a sleep, 
clothed with incorruption. It shall behold its empire van- 
ish in a moment, by the insurrection of all its subjects arm- 
ed with immortality. Many of the greatest empires of 
antiquity are not only extinct and their boundaries effaced, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 259 

but even the seat of their power is only to be known by 
colored dust in the desert, or by colored sand washed up 
by the waves of a stormy sea ; but of the empire of death, 
not a vestage shall be left ; not a particle of dust, if search- 
ed for, shall remain for its memorial ; life, an ocean of 
victorious life, shall overflow and swallow it up. 

V. We may also infer from the teaching of our Lord, 
that the bodies raised will be identical with those commit- 
ted to the grave. * They that are in the graves shall come 
forth.' 'Of all that the Father hath given me, I will lose 
nothing, but will raise it up in the last day.' Indeed, the 
very term resurrection implies this identity : otherwise, 
the bodies produced in the last day would be, not a resur- 
rection, but a creation, like that of the first man. And the 
design of the resurrection requires it ; the purposes of 
justice demand that the beings, who shall then appear in 
judgment, should be the identical beings who have been 
here on probation. To the objection of the sceptic, that 
the rapid waste and supply of our animal frame, the suc- 
cession of bodies we may be said to inhabit, renders this 
identity inconceivable, we deem it sufficient to reply in 
the language of Christ, ' Ye do err, not knowing the scrip- 
tures, nor the power of God.' It should however abate 
his confidence, if not entirely silence the objector ; that, 
on his principle, neither punishments nor rewards could 
be justly dispensed, even in this life; since the material 
structure changes so rapidly, that in the lapse of a few 
years not a particle of the primitive body remains. He 
would not think of asserting, we presume, that he himself 
is not now the identical individual he was at the time of 
his birth : that the decrepit body of the aged debauchee is 
suffering unjustly for the intemperance of his youthful 
frame; that it would be unrighteous to punish the murder- 
er for a crime which he perpetrated when his body was 



260 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

composed of other particles ; or, that he himself, in conse- 
quence of a similar change, has no title to property left him 
a few years ago. His common sense protects him from 
such absurdities in the affairs of this life ; and we will 
leave him to assign to himself a reason, if he can, why it 
should desert him only in the province of religion ; let him 
say, what is the interpretation to be put on the conduct of 
him who reserves all his hostility for religion, and who 
evinces that hostility by availing himself of weapons which 
he would not stoop to employ against any other object. 
But among the various triumphs of the resurrection-day, 
one will be the triumph of common sense ; and let him re- 
member that, even while he has been cavilling and we re- 
plying, the hour of retribution has come nearer; and that 
the indestructible principle of conscience, the principle 
which runs through our being, giving continuity and identi- 
ty to that being, through an eternity of existence, has actual- 
ly gathered strength while we have been thus communing, 
and increased its store of materials for future joy or woe. 

VI. We have already shown that the doctrine of immor- 
tality is not distinctive of the christian system ; it is, we 
think, equally clear, that the honor of describing the nature, 
and providing the means of a resurrection to everlasting 
happiness is peculiar to Christ alone. Blind to the fact of 
their departure from God, numbers are satisfied with be- 
lieving the bare immortality of their nature; here their 
inquiries terminate ; the happiness of that nature they take 
for granted as a matter of course; they confound existence 
with enjoyment ; an error this which many a heathen 
would have blushed to own. Though sitting in the shad- 
ow of death, they were sufficiently enlightened to perceive 
that an immortality of misery is quite as possible to sinful 
creatures as an eternity of bliss ; they would have regard- 
ed him, who should have brought to them the proof of im- 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 261 

mortality, as conferring a very equivocal boon, unless he 
could also sow that immortality with the seeds of happiness ; 
and hence, while they labored to demonstrate a future state, 
decidedly the greater part of their endeavors were directed 
to the task of exploring the character and will of the Di- 
vinity, and of descrying the nature of the regions beyond 
the grave, with a view to provide for their future enjoyment. 

Now, while the teaching of Christ presupposes the im- 
mortality of the soul, to him belongs the grand distinction 
of having proved the resurrection of the body, and provid- 
ed for the endless happiness of the whole man in heaven. 
Had he not made this essential provision, his instructions 
would only have illuminated the darkness of the world, 
as with flames ascending from the bottomless pit, would 
only have painted more dreadful colors on the gloom which 
has gathered around the seat of the Invisible ; and he him- 
self might be reproached as tormenting us before our 
time; but having made our happiness and our immortali- 
ty consistent and co-extensive, what can equally deserve 
our attention with the way in which he has ' brought it to 
light.' 

1. By this essential divinity he possesses the power of 
defeating death, and of opening to the soul unbounded re- 
sources of pure and eternal enjoyment. He declared that 
1 he has life in himself, so that he can quicken whom he 
will.' 'I,' said he, ' am the resurrection and the life.' ' I 

am the life.' This is language appropriate to the 

Deity alone : for life, properly speaking, inhabits none 
besides. Life in him is essence ; but of the highest creat- 
ed beings it can only be said that they live, that they are 
the offspring, the dependent recipients of his essence. 
However large their capacities, and replenished with life, 
still they are infinitely nearer to nothing, than to absolute 
and essential life. So that he ' who only hath immortality,' 



262 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

though he hath surrounded himself with an universe of 
life, still retains to himself the prerogative of swearing, 
As I live ; and of announcing, J am ; and, / am life ; he 
only hath immortality in its fullness and essence ; and all 
the oceans of vitality circulating through the universe take 
their rise in him, ' with whom is the fountain of life ;' 'he 
filleth all in all.' But if it belongs to him alone to say, ' I 
am life,' when surrounded by 'the living creatures,' the 
princes of immortality above, with what a heightened 
emphasis could he repeat it in this region of death ; here, 
where life was always conditional, and in jeopardy from 
the first ; here, where comparatively a very small portion 
of being had been distributed at first ; where that little had 
been invaded, forfeited, wasted ; where death was actually 
in full possession. He came into a land of sepulchres ; 
found himself standing in a grave, with death for a com- 
panion laboring to tread out and trample in the dust the last 
spark of human life. And, lifting himself up into an atti- 
tude of supreme dignity, he said with a voice which is 
still echoing through the subterranean realms of death, 'I 
am the resurrection and the life.' ' I am the ark in which 
all the life is contained that shall finally issue to people a 
world now deluged with death. From me proceeds all 
the redundancy of life at this moment replenishing the 
universe; and I will cause a stream of vitality to set in 
and flood the earth.' 

2. But power and right are distinct things,, and, among 
men, are frequently opposed to each other. It is however 
the glory of Him who can do all things, that he does only 
that which is right; that his power waits on his justice, 
and takes law from infinite rectitude. Now he had pro- 
nounced it right that man should die ; how then can he 
reverse the sentence without impeaching its rectitude, and 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 263 

appearing to judge himself? And yet Jesus asserts to 
himself the right of restoring the dead to life, selects for 
himself a title descriptive of this work, and demands to 
be known by it, as his most honorable and favorite appel- 
lation. 

The problem is solved, when we hear him affirm that 
he had come to give his life a ransom for many; that, as 
the good shepherd, he proposed to lay down his life for the 
sheep. Death was the punishment of transgression ; it 
was in perfect accordance with right that the penalty should 
be inflicted, in order that holiness might be protected, that 
sin might be discouraged, and that the divine determina- 
tion to maintain the law and order of his government might 
be emphatically proclaimed. If, however, an expedientcan 
be devised by which all these ends can be equally answer- 
ed, without the infliction of the penalty, right will be satis- 
fied, and concede the exemption. That expedient is found 
in the incarnation and death of the Son of God. By vol- 
untarily stooping from his glory, assuming our nature, and 
suffering before the eyes of the universe, all that humani- 
ty, sustained by divinity, could endure, he has answered 
the very ends which our punishment would have secured, 
and infinitely more; he has placed the hatefulness of sin, 
and the holiness of God, in a focus of light which will 
make itself to be seen by every eye ; he has, at once, in- 
flicted a death-blow on the power of sin, given a triumph 
to justice, secured life, eternal life to man ; and distinguish- 
ed an attribute which would have been for ever eclipsed 
had justice taken its original course, the attribute of Infi- 
nite Love. The nature of his reward was determined, 
predetermined, by the nature of his work ; he died, in or- 
der to exempt us from death. Having received his re- 
ward, having purchased us out of the hands of offended 
justice, and made us his own property, he may now em- 



264 'THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ploy the right he has acquired in us as he pleases. Death, 
in its judicial character, is abolished. He is at liberty, 
either to exempt his people entirely from death, to insert 
an exception in their favor in the universal commission of 
death ; or, permitting the sentence of mortality to take ef- 
fect, to restore them to life afterwards, and place them for- 
ever beyond the reach of death. His wisdom prefers the 
latter course. By allowing them to depart from earth in 
the ordinary way, through the portal of death, he leaves 
undisturbed the existing arrangements of providence, avoids 
many palpable evils, and secures in addition, many valua- 
ble ends. But while he allows this arrangement to hold, 
he would have his people to know that it is not forced on 
him : that it is the choice of his own benignity ; that'he 
sways an unchallenged sceptre over the whole empire of 
hades : that, in respect to his people, the shadow of death, 
wherever it falls, may be regarded as the shadow of that 
sceptre, for, at their death, ' he comes to receive them to 
himself.' 

3.. But sin involves a spiritual as well as a physical 
death. We have seen that Christ possesses the power of 
re-animating the body ; and that he is invested with the 
right ; but it is evident that these may both be exercised to 
the punishment of men, ' for some shall come forth to the 
resurrection of damnation.' The great question then which 
remains, is, whether or not he possesses the means of call- 
ing us forth to an immortality of happiness. ' I am come,' 
said he, ' that they may have life, and that they may have 
it more abundantly.' ' Whoso eateth my flesh and drink- 
eth my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up 
at the last day.' ' Whosoever drinketh of the water that 
I shall give him shall never thirst ; but the water that I 
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing 
up into everlasting life.' ' This spake he of the Spirit, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 265 

which they that believe on him should receive.' By the 
agency of his Holy Spirit, he conducts in his people, in 
the present life, a moral process by which they experience 
a resurrection to holiness. The hour is not only coming-, 
but now is, when the dead hear the voice of the Son of 
God : and they that hear it live. Starting from the slum- 
bers of sin, they awake to newness of life, and attire them- 
selves in the garments of salvation. Dissevering them- 
selves from their former bonds, they ask to be trained for 
every duty his service may require, and pant to enjoy all 
the happiness his kingdom may contain. Conscious that 
they are once more breathing the only atmosphere in which 
the soul can live — the complacent favor of God — they feel 
within themselves an earnest of immortality ; feel that the 
new principle of which they have been made the subjects 
has nothing to fear from death, that it is made for eternity, 
that it can smile at the decay of the body, and will soon 
spring from the bed of death to immortality. 

And, from the fact that they have been made the parta- 
kers of a divine principle, there arises to believers this new 
pledge of a resurrection to eternal life — that Christ has 
engaged to raise them as a part of his own being. This 
truth he himself distinctly taught ; ' As the living Father 
hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth 
me, even he shall live by me ;' — ' he dwelleth in me, and 
I in him ; ' — ' I will raise him up at the last day ; '— -' be- 
cause I live, ye shall live also.' He became one flesh 
with us, in order that we might become one spirit with 
him. Here is a two-fold bond subsisting between Christ 
and his people : but the former of these they possess only 
in common with all mankind, it allies him to the species, 
and by virtue of it, all the ungodly shall be raised. The 
spiritual bond, however, is peculiar to themselves ; it has 
been tied by his own hand, and nothing shall be able to 



266 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

separate it. By virtue of this union it is that believers 
shall arise; not merely by an act of his power, for thus 
the wicked shall arise, but by an extension of his life as 
their life. To the ungodly he can say, • I am the resur- 
rection ; ' but to the faithful alone he proclaims, ' I am the 
resurrection and the life.' The grave was the prison-house 
of insulted justice ; and as their Representative he bowed 
himself down, and condescended to wear its fetters; but 
his enlargement and return from it shows that it no longer 
retains its original character ; he has changed it into the 
peaceful depository of their dust; the treasury of the skies; 
they contemplate his grave as the basement-ground whence 
their nature takes its spring to immortality. 

So ample and sufficient are the preparatory measures 
which Christ has taken for the final extinction of death, 
that he speaks of it in terms of comparative disparagement 
and indifference. So effectually is it disarmed and mutila- 
ted, and so completely at the disposal of Christ, that he 
speaks of it already as if it were not. ' Whosoever be- 
lieveth in me. shall never die.' ' If a man keep my say- 
ings he shall never taste of death, he shall never see death.' 
In accordance with these representations, he has given to 
the state of death the soft and tranquillizing name of sleep. 
This use of the term, indeed, was not unknown to Jewish 
saints ; but as applied by them to death, it denoted chiefly 
the silence, darkness, and inactivity of the grave. The 
Greeks, too, had long been accustomed to speak of death 
in the softest terms ; the dead they often spoke of as the 
departed, the worn out ; and called their burial-grounds, 
dormitories or sleeping places.' But this arose partly from 
the dislike they felt to allude to a gloomy and unwelcome 
subject ; and partly from a wish to propitiate the deceased, 
of whom they stood in considerable dread. How superior 
the sense in which Jesus employed the term, sleep ! they 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 267 

used it as figure, but he turned it into a reality ; they ut- 
tered it from fear, but he made it the language of hope and 
of faith. He used it with the highest authority, for he 
was about to awaken one of the sleepers from his sleep ; 
and, however protracted the slumbers of his people may 
be, he knew that they are all finally to hear his voice and 
to come forth. 

Dense as the gloom is which hangs over the mouth of 
the sepulchre, it is the spot, above all others, where the 
gospel, if it enters, shines and triumphs. In the busy 
sphere of life and health, it encounters an active antago- 
nist ; the world confronts it, aims to obscure its glories, to 
deny its claims, to drown its voice, to dispute its progress, 
to drive it from the ground it occupies. But from the 
mouth of the grave the world retires ; it shrinks from the 
contest there ; it leaves a clear and open space in which 
the gospel can assert its claims, and unveil its glories with- 
out opposition or fear. There the infidel and the world- 
ling look anxiously around, but the world has left them 
helpless and fled. There the christian looks around, and 
lo the angel of mercy is standing close by his side. The 
gospel kindles a torch, which not only irradiates the val- 
ley of the shadow of death, but throws a radiance into the 
world beyond, and reveals it peopled with the sainted spir- 
its of those who have died in Jesus. It descends with us 
into the low chambers of the grave ; bids us look on its 
silent inmates ; and to look on them with the persuasion 
that they only sleep. It assures us that death, like sleep, 
is not the destruction of the living principle, but only a 
temporary change in the mode of its operation j that, like 
sleep, it is a state of rest, discharging us from all the con- 
cerns of the world ; that, like sleep, it principally affects 
the body, the activity of the soul being meantime contin- 
ued, and perhaps greatly increased : and, most of all, that, 



268 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

like sleep, it will not be perpetual, but only endure for a 
night. It tells us that a day will dawn on the world, when 
Jesus, assuming an aspect of infinite benignity, will say, 
in effect, of all his sleeping saints, as he said of Lazarus, 
* I go to awake them out of sleep.' 

O how vast the immortal awakening ! Who can lift his 
mind to the greatness of the occasion ! Where is the 
height from which we can command a view of the sublime 
spectacle ? In prospect of it, ' Jesus said, The hour is come, 
that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit.' As the first fruits of them that sleep, he has 
arisen and appeared before God, the certain pledge of 
the great harvest-home. ' Put ye in the sickle, for the 
harvest is ripe :. multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of 
decision.' The wide earth shall ' stand thick,' and wave, 
with that ocean plenitude of life. The produce of the 
fields, every year, is a renewed triumph of life over death ; 
but the triumph of life on that day will be final and com- 
plete, leaving not an atom for which death can contend. 
It will be a triumph of the highest order, consisting, not 
in the mere creation of new beings, but in the release and 
reanimationof what had been dragged away from the ter- 
ritories of life ; death itself will be turned into life, corrup- 
tion will put on incorruption- The triumph will be en- 
hanced by the circumstance that it will be achieved on the 
very spot where death had reigned ; if the power of death 
be confined to this world, what an opprobrium must earth 
be to all the regions of life, and how naturally may it be 
pointed at by their inhabitants as the mysterious sepulchre 
of life, the dishonor of the universe ; but the morning of 
the resurrection will wipe off that disgrace, will make 
earth their boast and song ; for, ' there, they will be able 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 269 

to say, there death was overthrown ; there the great an- 
tagonist of life, after wasting the earth for thousands of 
years, and threatening to push the conquest into other 
worlds, was expelled from the universe as an evil no long- 
er to be borne. And from that very scene where death 
once reigned, heaven has received its largest influx of spir- 
itual and immortal life.' And to consummate the triumph, 
life on that day will be crowned with immortality ; it will 
not merely be restored, but ennobled, exalted to the high- 
est state of security and glory it can sustain. From the 
ruinous heap of every grave a living structure shall arise, 
built up into an imperishable monument of 'the Resurrec- 
tion and the Life ; ' in the stead of corruption, it shall be 
inaccessible to decay ; ' for neither can they die any more, 
they are equal unto the angels ; and are the children of 
God, being the children of the resurrection.' In the stead 
of dishonor it will be raised in glory, radiating a splendor 
which shall eclipse all sublunary glory. In the place of 
weakness, it shall be clothed with the vigor of immortal 
youth, asking no relaxation or repose, the wings of the 
soul accompanying and aiding it in all its untiring flights. 
In the place of a natural body, it shall be raised a spiritual 
body ; the original grossness of its materiality shall be 
purged away, it shall be refined and etherialized into spirit, 
a robe of light rivaling the invisible essence of the soul it- 
self; while each of its senses shall form an inlet to floods 
of enjoyment, and each of its organs be instinct and emu- 
lous with zeal for the divine glory. 

Earth has been often the scene of splendid triumphs, 
the fame of which has filled the world and reverberated 
from age to age ; but how tame, how trifling the greatest 
achievements of man compared with this ! a triumph which 
not only effaces the remembrance of all that man has done, 
but even eclipses the glory of the divine exploits ; ' the 



270 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

former things shall no more come into remembrance.' 
Here man may indulge in wonder without loss of dignity ; 
not to be astonished here would be unnatural ! Christ 
himself is represented, ages before his incarnation, as con- 
templating this scene with boundless delight, as rehearsing 
his victory over death from eternity. From the bosom of 
the Father he looked on through the vista of time, while 
the successive parts of his great work passed in slow and 
stately procession, till he beheld the scene of the rising 
dead ; all the intermediate ages instantly vanished ; he saw 
in anticipation, the king of terrors disarmed beneath his 
feet, the world flooded with light and life, the song of myr- 
iads of myriads reached his ear, shouting his name as their 
Great Deliverer; and, with holy impatience to realize 
the scene, he exclaimed, ' I will ransom them from the 
power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death; O 
death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, I will be thy de- 
struction ! ' And during the interval till he came in the flesh, 
did his interest in the prospect appear to have evaporated ? 
What truth did he more frequently or solemnly teach 1 
Thrice, in rapid succession, he exclaimed, ' I will raise 
them up at the last day ; ' as if he sought to find, in the 
bare repetition of the truth, a solace and compensation for 
deferring the event. Nor, since his ascension, does his 
desire to realize it appear to have suffered the least abate- 
ment. On the contrary, ' from henceforth he is expecting' 
till this last enemy shall be destroyed. When last he ap- 
peared before his church, to close the visions of futurity, 
the character which he selected for the occasion, was, ' he 
that hath the keys of the invisible world, and of death.' 
This is the capacity in which he will next greet the eyes 
of the redeemed ; meanwhile, he is training them to raise, 
in concert with himself, this shout over the last of their 
foes, ' O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy 
victory?' 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 271 



SECTION VII. OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT. 



4 The Son of man shall come in his glory ; and before him shall be gathered all 

nations.' 



We have already had occasion to remark that the res- 
urrection of the dead will not take place as a final event ; 
that it stands in the relation of means to an end, and that 
end, the general judgment, with its eternal awards. Even 
1 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of that day, 
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his 
saints, to execute judgment upon all.' And Solomon, 
when, in the capacity of a preacher, he looked round the 
universe for the strongest motive to holy obedience — the 
motive which should render it unnecessary to seek another 
— took it from the prospect of a judgment to come; 'Let 
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God, 
and keep his commandments : for this is the whole duty of 
man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, 
with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it 
be evil.' 

He who ' sees the end from the beginning,' has imparted 
to man a subordinate prescience of the same comprehen- 
sive kind, has sketched on his mind an outline of the great 
system of providence, and filled him with presentiments of 
the principal events which are to attend the developement 
of that system. The consequence is, that wherever the 
Bible comes, it finds our nature preconfigured to many of 
its truths, waiting for an interpreter, and ready to respond 
to the truth of many a prediction, as a prophecy, or an an- 



272 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tieipation with which it had long been familiar in thought, 
and for which it only wanted divine authentication and a 
name in order to regard it as a solemn reality. Indeed, in 
this respect, the work of God only resembles his word; 
for as in his word, he has often disclosed the infinite afflu- 
ence of his mind by revealing, with all the simplicity of 
apparent unconsciousness, an eternal principle in a passing 
word ; an infinite project in an incidental allusion ; so, 
in the construction of the human mind, he has traced on it 
characters and imagery which can only be read by the 
light of eternity : thrown on it the unsteady shadows of 
objects which stand yet far distant on the plains of futurity. 
Of these pre-intimations we know of none more deeply 
inlaid in the mind than that of future retribution. That 
the ancient saints lived in the faith of it we know ; for the 
spirit of inspiration has recorded the very words in which, 
in the prospect of that day, they triumphed over their per- 
secutors, and sang of the joy that would crown them in 
' the day of the Lord.' And, relying on the uniformity and 
immutability of the human constitution, we may safely in- 
fer that ancient sinners anticipated it also. There were 
moments when they possessed the warning of its approach 
in the restless apprehensions of their own breasts ; mo- 
ments when the fires of that day seemed to rise up in the 
distant horizon, and to cast a lurid glare .on the face of their 
startled and trembling conscience; when the mention of 
such a day would have fallen in with the smothered fore- 
bodings of their minds ; would have aroused an inward 
monitor, which, however carefully laid to sleep, was ready 
to awake at the slightest summons, and to bear testimony 
in the cause of righteousness. 

But though the doctrine of a future judgment did not 
originate in the teaching of Christ, though from the earli- 
est ages, mankind had variously received it, yet the light 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 273 

they possessed, even the revealed light, did but just suffice 
dimly to show them the Judge enthroned in clouds, and sur- 
rounded with judgments; while, from his superiority to 
temptation, his greatness and perfection, they inferred that 
the Judge of all the earth would do right. But the person 
of the Judge, the pomp and process of the judgment, its 
most solemn circumstances, and affecting results — all this 
was comparatively unknown to them ; and in supplying 
the information our Lord has greatly enlarged the origin- 
al part of his teaching. 

1. When speaking of the final judgment, it is observa- 
able that he seldom omitted to insist and enlarge on its pub- 
licity. He thus reminds us, that the end for which there 
is any judgment at all, is best secured by having it held 
in the presence of all worlds ; that piety maybe most hon- 
ored, sin most abashed, and the government of God vindi- 
cated and glorified, on the largest possible scale. In 'a few 
descriptive words, he fills the horizon with intelligent be- 
ings of all orders and characters. It will not be the judg- 
ment of a single individual, nor of a nation, but of a whole 
world of intelligent and accountable beings. It will not 
be an assize for sins of recent commission merely, sins 
committed thousands of years before will be reproduced 
and examined, with all their circumstances of aggravation, 
as if they had been only just committed. What a profound 
impression will that produce of the holy character of God, 
and of the infinite enormity of sin ! When his people 
are crowned, he would not have one of their enemies 
absent ; and when the ungodly are doomed he would not 
have one of the righteous absent; he would have them now 
to forestall that day, to feel by anticipation, that they are 
speaking with the universe for their audience, and acting 
in the great theatre of the judgment; and then he would 
have them to depart to their respective allotments bearing 

17 



274 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 



away with them impressions of the hatefulness of sin, and 
the beauty of holiness, which shall remain uneffaced 
through all the scenes of eternity. 

2. Pursuing- our examination, we recognize in the Judge 
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. ■ The Son of man 
shall come in his glory, and before him shall be gathered 
all nations.' • The Father judgeth no man, but hath com- 
mitted all judgment to the Son.' He hath ' authority to 
execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man ; ' in 
his super-added humanity, consists the very reason of his 
appointment. If the Judge is to be seen on that day with 
our bodily eyes, and if realities are to triumph on that day 
over appearances, substances over shadows, then is it fit 
that no illusion should sit on the throne, that he should 
occupy it, who is, ■ without controversy, God manifest in 
the flesh.' If that is to be the day of final compensation, 
the day in which all the arrears of reward and honor shall 
be brought up to all the sufferers in the cause of virtue, 
then is it fit that the Judge, the Prince of sufferers, and 
who is set forth as the type of happiness which holy suf- 
fering yields, should receive, in his own person, the am- 
plest compensation; that he who submitted to be arraign- 
ed, and who occupied the cross here, should then ascend 
the throne as his proper reward.. If it was right that the 
work of salvation should be commenced, it must also be 
right that it should be completed ; and if it was fit that 
Christ should undertake it, then is it fit, that in order to 
evince his competency, and reward his toils, he also should 
complete it ; that the honor of conferring the last great 
blessings of his grace, and of giving the final application 
to the great principles of his dispensation, should be en- 
joyed by him alone. If it was right in God, so to con- 
struct the plan of salvation, that in all its workings it 
should be made to yield to believers, as it does, the largest 
possible measure of consolation and joy, then must it be 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 275 

right also, that in the person of their Judge they should 
recognize their Redeemer. It will give an additional value 
to the crown of life, that it will be bestowed by the hand of 
Christ ; that the very being who died for them, who gave 
them the grace of repentance, and who awakened in them 
the hope of salvation, should come personally to realize 
their hopes, to collect them around him, to wipe away every 
tear, to receive the plaudits of the universe in their salva- 
tion ; this will be the only ingredient their cup of bliss will 
require, and the last it can receive ; having that, their joy 
will be full. And if it be right that his enemies should 
be vanquished, it seems fit that he should vanquish them; 
if it is proper that unbelievers should be condemned, there 
appears a peculiar propriety that, both for their greater 
conviction, and his greater exaltation, the sentence of con- 
demnation should be pronounced by him. ^ 

And, oh ! what an enhancement of their doom, will this 
single circumstance contain ! If a person be conscious 
that he is chargeable with ingratitude, and with ingrati- 
tude beyond forgiveness, he would rather confront his 
greatest foe than the person he has thus injured. Were 
any other being than Christ to ascend the throne of judg- 
ment, or were he any other than he is, the confusion of the 
impenitent sinner at appearing in his presence would be 
less intolerable. But when he shall draw near, and be 
compelled to look on that injured goodness, his confusion 
will be complete. When he shall behold him invested in 
the robe of humanity, that single sight will flash on him 
the recollection of all that Jesus did in that nature to re- 
deem him — the incarnation, the bloody sweat, the cross, 
the pierced side — all will rise to view, and penetrate him 
with an agonizing sense of his ingratitude and guilt. 
When we shall hear the voice of that injured Being, the 
voice which he had heard so often in the gospel, inviting, 
entreating, beseeching Him in every tone of gracious so- 



276 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

licitude, it will vibrate on his ear more dreadfully than the 
sound of the archangel's trump which called him from the 
grave. When the impenitent are represented as calling 
on the mountains and rocks to fall on them ; what is that 
which they seek to avoid ? they ask to be hidden from the 
face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb — the wrath of the Lamb. Had it been 
the fury of the lion; had it been the wrath of a being who 
had only created them, given them a law, and left them to 
obey it or perish : who had only been known to them as a. 
being of rigorous and unbending justice; then, how- 
ever conscious of guilt, they might have attempted to lift 
up their hardened front in his presence. But it is the 
wrath of the Lamb ; of a Being who has always acted to- 
wards them with infinite tenderness and patience; who 
became the Lamb of God, the great sacrificial victim, suf- 
fering and dying to take away their guilt : this is the cir- 
cumstance which will render his wrath so unendurable, 
that they will ask no higher favor than to be sheltered 
from the sight of his face, and would take the weight of 
the incumbent earth as a blessed exchange. 

3. Our Lord very frequently spoke of the pomp and 
circumstances. of the final scene. In painting that coming 
event, there is, no doubt, a propensity to overcharge the 
picture with physical terrors ; to make it depend for inter- 
est, too exclusively on material splendors ; there is a dan- 
ger of sinking the moral, and of leaving the mind unduly 
occupied with images of material grandeur. And it is, no 
doubt, true, that in that awful day, our spiritual condition 
will be the great engrossing theme; that a flaming world 
will have little interest for one who is about to pass into a 
lake which ever burneth ; that the stupendous magnifi- 
cence of the surrounding scene will have slight attractions 
for one whose ear has just drank in the sentence of divine 
approval, and whose eye is fast filling with the visions of 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 277 

eternal life. But, till the?i, we have the sanction of our 
Lord's example, for introducing, and enlarging on, the 
physical machinery of that day. He who knew all the 
avenues to the human heart, knew that the way to engage 
our attention to the day of doom itself, is to invest it with 
sublime scenical imagery, to accumulate around it all those 
circumstances of awful pomp which are known to have 
terrible attraction for the human heart. ' The Son of man 
shall come in the clouds of heaven, in his own glory, and 
in the glory of his Father, and of all his holy angels, with 
a great sound of trumpets.' 

And who can question that the truth of the scene re- 
quires this dramatic description? Had Sinai its appara- 
tus of quailing terrors ; its sublime blackness of dark- 
ness ; its thunders, and tempests, and earthquakes; its 
sound of a trumpet waxing louder and louder; and its 
hosts of ministering angels : did all this appalling machine- 
ry attend the publication of the law, amere national event, a 
comparatively private scene? and shall that day, when the 
law is to assert its high majesty, and man to have his final 
audit; that day of universal summoning, and eternal dis- 
pensations; be wanting in circumstantial effect? Had 
even Bethlehem its signs and wonders, its guiding star, 
and exulting cherubim ; when He came as in labored ob- 
scurity, could creation even then be hardly restrained from 
collecting her glories to grace the scene? and shall she be 
remiss in her attendance when he will come on purpose to 
be glorified, when leave will be given her to pour all her 
Splendors in his train? has Calvary also its tale of prodi- 
gious things ; did nature come and weep at his cross, and 
sympathise with his sorrows? and shall she not come to 
wait on his throne and give effect to his triumph? Yes, 
we believe that the promise which he made, especially to 
his disciples, is destined to have universal application ; that 
every element and every nature which sympathised in his 



278 THE GREA.T TEACHER. 

tribulation, will then be promoted to swell his train, or en- 
throned to share his glory. Whether, indeed, every pre- 
dicted prodigy, every image of terrible sublimity which 
the scriptures assign to that awful day, will be literally re- 
alized or not, it is immaterial to determine. The fact that 
our Lord's descriptions of it fill the imagination, that in 
order to aggrandise its interest he has selected and combin- 
ed every element of greatness, beauty, and terror, warrants 
us to infer that the machinery will be every way worthy 
the unparalleied occasion ; that if one of those predicted 
circumstances are wanting, it will only be to make way 
for another of surpassing power. ' He shall come in his 
own glory,' clad in the robe of essential light he had worn 
from eternity ; ' and in the glory of his Father,' absorbing 
in his own person all power and office, invested by the pa- 
ternal hand with all the insignia of supreme majesty, and 
girt with the sword of ultimate justice never till now un- 
sheathed ; and crowned with the most convincing signs, 
and glorious demonstrations of paternal love; 'and in the 
glory of his holy angels,' all the bright inhabitants of 
heaven, forsaking their sublime occupations, and descending 
from their lofty seats, ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
thousands of thousands, shall encircle his throne, and at- 
tend his coming. In the presence of that splendor, the sun 
itself shall wane, and all light be swallowed up. The vast 
procession, sailing On the bosom of the troubled air, filling 
the concave of the sky, and flanked with prepared thunder- 
clouds of wrath, shall open its front on the astonished world. 
No interpreter will be necessary; it will flash its meaning 
on every mind ; find a key in every breast ; explaining a 
thousands presentiments, and realizing ten thousand appre- 
hensions. The sound of the trumpet is heard ; it is the 
voice of the Judge calling for the sleeping dead ; calling 
with a voice which is instantly heard, understood and 
obeyed ; they that are in their graves come forth. Again 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 279 

it sounds ; and unnumbered angels, true to the signal, dis- 
perse over the four winds of heaven, and collect the whole 
human family into the area of the great tribunal. Then 
shall ensue the conflagration of the globe ; forsaken of its 
inhabitants, all its stores of fire shall be unmasked, every 
mountain shall be a Sinai, and the flame universal : yet 
who shall heed the sight ? for the great assize will have 
begun. ' Oh, may the Lord grant that we may find mercy 
of the Lord in that day.' 

4. The rectitude which will distinguish the proceedings 
of the last day, is a sentiment familiar to the Old Testament. 
On this account, I should content myself with barely re- 
peating it, had not our Lord directed our attention to cer- 
tain particulars, by which that rectitude will make itself 
impressively seen. ' Before him shall be gathered all na- 
tions ; ' in other words the judgment will be universal. 
If it were not — if only one of all the generations of man- 
kind were absent, the whole universe would have a right 
to complain of injustice. But the judgment will be right- 
eous, so that all will be present : and therefore you will be 
present. However loath to leave the darkness of the 
grave, you must come forth. However eager to remain in 
the domains of death, death must deliver you up. Howev- 
er loud your entreaties to the rocks to fall on you, and to the 
hills to cover you, they will refuse to afford you a refuge. 
Though now you may often compel nature to serve you 
in your sins, and to conceal your character ; then it will be 
avenged ; darkness itself will reject you ; the night will 
become light about you, every department and element of 
creation, true to its original design, will render service 
to its Lord in conspiring to facilitate the ends of justice. 
And so essential to those ends will be the presence of every 
human being, that if you alone were absent, the solemn 
proceedings would wait, the judgment would stop for your 
appearance. 



280 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

But impartiality requires not only that every individual 
should be present ; it also demands that cognizance be ta- 
ken of every act. Let a single deed, let a single thought, 
the most inconsequent and unproductive that ever passed 
through the mind, be omitted ; and if that thought possess- 
' ed a moral quality, the universe would be justified in pro- 
testing against the omission. But nothing shall be over- 
looked, nothing made light of ; the slightest voluntary ex- 
ercise of the soul, the very dust of the balances shall be 
taken into the account. The two mites, the cup of cold 
water, the prison visit, the pious wish, on the one hand ; 
the omitted kindness, the idle word, the unchaste look, the 
thought of evil, the deed of darkness, on the other : shall 
allbebrought into the open court. It is in the moral world 
as it is in the natural, where every substance weighs some- 
thing ; though we speak of imponderable bodies, yet na- 
ture knows nothing of positive levity. And were we pos- 
sessed of the necessary scales, the exquisite instrument, 
we should find that the same holds true in the moral world. 
Nothing is insignificant on which sin has breathed the 
breath of hell ; every thing is important on which holiness 
has impressed itself in the faintest characters. And, ac- 
cordingly, ' there is nothing covered that shall not be re- 
vealed ; and hid that shall not be known.' However un- 
important now in the estimation of man, yet, when placed 
in the light of the divine countenance, like the atom in the 
sun's rays, it shall be found deserving attention; and as 
the minutest molecule of matter contains all the primordial 
elements of a world, so the least action of the mind shall 
be found to include in it the essential element of heaven, 

or of hell. 

And in order to make good its character for righteous- 
ness, it must also be a judgment of proportion and compar- 
ison ; in which the guilt of each is ascertained according 
to all its peculiar modifications. In the courts of human 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 281 

judicature, one law, and one measure of punishment, is 
often applied to a multitude of offences varying in their 
shades of guilt. But, in that day, a law will be found for 
every different sin ; and a measure of punishment accu- 
rately adjusted to every measure of guilt. It will be more 
tolerable for some than it will be for others. He who knew 
his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many 
stripes; and he who knew not, and yet committed things 
worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. The 
number of talents which each had received, will determine 
the returns which each should have made. It will not be 
a question merely of guilt or innocence, but a question of 
how guilty. The sinner will not merely be convicted of 
impenitence, but of all the aggravations of his impenitence. 
He will find himself brought into comparison with those, 
who, though their religious advantages were less than his, 
succeeded in laying hold on eternal life. He will find 
himself confronted by the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
of Tyre and Sidon, and Nineveh 5 the whole heathen 
world shall rise up in judgment to condemn him. They 
who have been punished will demand — they who would 
have been punished, had they misused their means and mer- 
cies as he has done, will demand — the universe will de- 
mand, on every principle of impartiality and justice, that 
the impenitent hearer of the gospel shall not escape, that 
judgment go forth against him, that he be punished accord- 
ing to the enormity of his guilt. 

Were any allowed to absent themselves from that tribu- 
nal, the hearers of the gospel certainly would not ; they 
form the most important class who will be there arraigned. 
Could any class of sins be passed by, impenitence under 
the gospel could not ; it takes rank with the highest order 
of guilt ; it will throw every other description of sin into 
the shade. Were a day of judgment appointed for no 
other class, -the hearers of the gospel are a class so impor- 



282 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

tant, that the judgment would be set, and the books be 
opened, if only for them. They occupy no middle ground. 
They are either the subjects of faith and repentance, and 
as such entitled, through grace, to the highest glories' of 
the heavenly state; or else they are the guiltiest, the most 
inexcusable of their race, and as such deserving the ex- 
tremest woe. We are to suppose that the most ordinary 
proceedings of that day will be invested with a more awful 
solemnity than the universe ever before beheld : but when 
the impenitent hearer of the gospel shall be arraigned, that 
solemnity shall deepen, if possible a thousand-fold ; while 
the crimson aggravations of his guilt shall be laid open, the 
attention of the congregated world shall become more 
breathless and intense ; and when his doom shall be pro- 
nounced, the voice of the righteous Judge shall take if pos- 
sible a deeper tone, and speak with a more awful empha- 
sis, as he utters the sentence, * Depart from me ; I never 
knew you.' 

And to render the rectitude of the judgment perfect, the 

whole must be conducted according - to the known laws of 
the divine government. In other words, the laws to which 
man is now required to conform, are the identical rules to 
which his conduct will then be brought. Were another 
standard to be then set up, a new law introduced, man 
might justly object to its irrelevance, put in a plea of igno- 
rance, and protest against its application. But the rule of 
judgment will be two-fold : the law of eternal morality to 
which our nature was originally adapted, and in obedience 
to which we should have found perfection ; and the law 
grace brought in to suit our lapsed condition, and in com- 
pliance with which we may obtain salvation. These, as 
they are the only rules known to us now, will be the only 
laws adduced then ; the consequence of which will be, that 
our works, our present conformity or non-conformity with 
these known principles will constitute the great subject of 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 283 

inquest. 'By thy words shalt thou be justified,' said 
Christ, 'and by thy words shalt thou be condemned.' While 
he declares that the formula of the final sentence shall run 
thus, ' Inasmuch as ye did it ; and inasmuch as ye did it 
not? 

In his hands, these laws will become of universal appli- 
cation. He will make it apparent that our conduct has 
never stopped with ourselves ; that it has never stopped at 
human laws, but has been all related to his divine laws ; 
that every thing we have done has obeyed a law, or vio- 
lated a law divinely enacted ; ' and either written on our 
hearts, or published in his word. And not only will these 
laws, in his hands, receive universal application as to per- 
sons, but also as to the character of each individual ; taking 
cognizance of all its thoughts and rudiments. If we had 
eyes adapted to the sight, we should see, on looking into 
the smallest seed, the future flower, or shrub, or tree, en- 
closed in it. He will look into our feelings and motives 
as into seeds ; by those embryoes of action he will infalli- 
bly determine what we are, and will show what we should 
have been, had there been scope and stage for their devel- 
opement and maturity. His law has a magnifying power; 
and when he shall apply it in that day to human charac- 
ter, the faintest and minutest parts of that character will 
show a definite outline, and a determinate quality. 

And how easy will it be for him to give the law this 
magnifying power ; or, rather, to show that it has always 
possessed it. How often did he do this in the days of his 
flesh, for the Old Testament code. By a single sentence, 
a passing remark, he sometimes laid open the spiritual 
interior of a precept ; and showed that in the morality of 
the ancient book there lay, as in its germ, the whole 
legislation of his new economy. The last day will be the 
triumph of law : by a single touch the scales shall fall 
from our eyes ; and what now seems low in the standard 



284 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

of holiness shall be seen towering away to an infinite 
height, and what now seems contracted shall be seen taking 
an immeasurable compass. God himself will be seen 
paying reverence to the law; and man shall feel himself 
pervaded and encompassed by it. Nothing shall seem to 
exist but character and law: man, denuded of all but char- 
acter, shall find nothing left him but his virtue or his vice; 
and the law, in the person of the Judge, applying itself to 
that character, and making its estimate. The reign of ap- 
pearances and professions will then be over, and works 
alone will be in request. Now men act as though the law 
called only for words, professions, semblances of right ; but 
then it will be heard, calling imperatively for works, char- 
acter, works : and men will find that they have nothing 
else left them to produce. 

5. The necessary result of bringing the human charac- 
ter to this test will be, the division of the whole family of 
man into two classes — the good, and the bad. ' When the 
Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy an- 
gels with him, then shall He sit upon the throne of his 
glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations : and 
He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
divideth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the 
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.' Now, 
men are distributed into a thousand classes, divided and 
subdivided by so large a multiplication of social and artifi- 
cial distinctions, that this greatest of all distinctions, arising 
from character, is almost confounded and lost in the crowd. 
But, 'they that have done good, and they that have done 
evil,' will be the sole remaining distinction then : the mul- 
tifarious compound of human society will be resolved into 
these two simple elements. 

The student of nature adverts with proud delight to that 
period in the history of science, when, as facts multiplied, 
leading phenomena became prominent, laws began to 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 285 

emerge, and generalizations to commence ; when the dis» 
coveries of a single mind harmonized unnumbered facts, 
and placed the system of the universe on a basis never 
after to be shaken. The judgment will be a great process 
of moral generalization. Wherever, indeed, the gospel 
comes with power, even now, the process begins. It no 
sooner obtains a footing amongst a people, than, pouring 
contempt on all their existing distinctions, it proposes a 
new classification. It developes the conscience, raises the 
moral part of our nature into importance, bestows all its 
attention, and confers all its titles upon that. It essays to 
separate the precious from the vile, and to collect them 
into a church ; to draw a line of demarkation ; on the one 
side of which shall stand all the good, and on the other 
side all the bad ; and this classification it intends to be all- 
comprehensive and ultimate. At present, however, nu- 
merous impediments operate to prevent the perfect realiza- 
tion of the theory. Approximation is all that can be at- 
tained. Tares spring up among the wheat ; and, notwith- 
standing every precaution, the foolish virgins mingle with 
the wise. But the last day shall behold this simplification 
complete. By the operation of a single principle he will 
reduce the chaos to order, ' dividing the light from the 
darkness.' By the application of a single rule he will 
gather ' like things to like ; ' and two classes shall com- 
prise all the infinite varieties. Under one or the other of 
these, each individual shall find a place — a place so appro- 
priate, that he could not exchange it even with one of the 
same class, without doing violence to all fitness and order: 
and those characteristics, on account of which the place 
has been assigned him, will be acknowledged by all to be 
specific ; his most distinguishing marks. The universe 
will confess and admire the justice, harmony, and perfec- 
tion of the distribution. 

Some, in their impatience* would have the Great Head 



286 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

of the Church to effect this separation at once ; they would 
gather out the tares before the time of harvest. As if they 
despaired of a judgment day, they would fain bring all the 
plans of Providence within the bounds of time ; as if it 
gave them but little satisfaction to know that a full exposi- 
tion and justification of the ways of God is to be made in 
eternity, they would forestall the future, and submit his 
plans to instant explanation. But, 'Nay,' saith he, 'ye 
know not what manner of spirit ye are of ' As the tares 
are left till the time of harvest, and are then gathered and 
burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of the world. 
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall 
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them 
that do iniquity.' Thus he signifies that his plans are 
already formed ; formed with an accuracy which admits of 
no alteration, and on a scale of greatness which excludes 
all haste. He can afford to wait. Had he any occasion 
to doubt the issue, he might, at times, be tempted to precipi- 
tate the end. But he sees the end from the beginning; 
sees it so clearly, and awaits it so confidently, that his pa- 
tience only proclaims the efficiency of his government. If 
impatience of his apparent delay could have induced him to 
hasten the final event, if suspicions of his power, if mis- 
constructions of his patience, could have provoked him to 
rashness, long before this he would have ' sworn, there 
shall be time no longer.' But his forbearance serves to 
illustrate his majesty ; and is meant to remind us, that if 
he does not submit his plans to our present impatience, and 
compress them into the limits of time, it is because he re- 
serves them for a nobler theatre, and deems them worthy 
the expanse of eternity. 

There are others who construe his apparent delay in fa- 
vor of the impunity of prosperous vice. ' The evil servant 
saith in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming. And with 
that he begins to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 287 

drink with the drunken.' ' As in the days of Noah, they 
laugh at the threatened judgment, and eat and drink, mar- 
ry and are given in marriage.' Because the event has been 
long foretold, but through a series of ages has not taken 
place, they conclude it need be dreaded no more, and take 
heart to live on in sin. They forget that his forbearance 
to the wicked makes part of a vast and gracious plan, by 
which he is seeking their salvation. They forget that one 
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand 
years as one day ; and that when the whole circle of time 
shall have revolved, they themselves will think it short 
They are now in the condition of one who has swallowed 
some poisonous and fatal draught ; the taste may be pleas- 
ant, the operation may be slow, and he may begin to natter 
himself that it will never take effect ; but only wait the 
necessary time, and it will appear that he has swallowed 
death. The poison of sin is now sleeping in the veins of 
humanity ; few of its deadly symptoiris may at present ap- 
pear ; but in the last day they will all be developed ; the 
destructive element will then appear in its real character, 
will furnish its awful operation in the second death of all 
who have neglected the divine antidote. 

1 The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from 
among the just.' By this intimation our Lord intended 
not merely to rebuke the impatience of those who would 
hasten his judgments, but to denote the perfect accuracy 
with which the separation will be made. The worjc will 
be committed to the highest order of created instrumental- 
ity ; the process of discrimination will be conducted under 
the immediate eye of Omniscience. Man, we have seen, 
in his ignorance and impatience, frequently deems it neces- 
sary now; God himself, the long-suffering God himself, 
will deem it necessary then. The happiness of his sub- 
jects will require that he should gather out of his kingdom 
all things that offend. and whatsoever worketh abomination: 



288 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

that all whose characters are not congenial with the laws, 
the enjoyments, the society of that blessed state, should be 
removed beyond the borders of his dominions. The sta- 
bility of his kingdom will require it. Unlike every other 
kingdom, he declares that his kingdom shall never be mov- 
ed. He designs it for eternity ; but were he to admit into 
its composition any impure elements, any perishable mate- 
rials, it would mar his purpose, it would do him no honor, 
his work would require revision and improvement, it w r ould 
not be perfect. Like a wise builder, therefore, he will per- 
mit nothing to enter as an elementary part of that fabric, 
but gold, and silver, and precious stones ; the wood, hay, 
and stubble shall be burnt up. He will secure to it eter- 
nal stability, by allowing nothing to become a part of it, 
which has not passed under the scrutiny of his omniscience, 
and received the seal of his approbation. 

6. Immediately consequent on this separation will be 
the final award. ' Then shall the king say unto them on 
his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world.' How gracious the language! Every word is 
fraught with infinite benignity. Then shall he say it — 
then, when the universe is assembled, when he is distribu- 
ting endless life and endless death, when every word he 
utters is pregnant with fate, when all creation is hushed 
into the deepest silence, when the spheres, the very stars 
in their courses, are standing still to listen — then, when 
no creature is breathing, but all are intensely bending to 
hear, then shall he address to them on his right hand the 
infinite welcome. He will say to them, Come; a word 
which will place him in the centre of a redeemed universe, 
which will collect around him all the loyal and the sancti- 
fied in the creation, which will bring all the blessed into 
immediate communication, and place them in eternal con- 
junction with himself. He will say to them, Come ; and, 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 269 

opening his arms of infinite love, their nature shall find 
perfection, and their love repose. He will say to them, 
Come ; and every mansion in heaven shall echo the invi- 
tation as if impatient to receive its destined guest. 

1 Come, ye blessed of my Father ;' how comprehensive 
the title ! reaching through eternity ; causing every thing 
in the universe to cast a benignant aspect upon them ; ap- 
pointing them heirs of blessedness. How efficacious the 
blessing ! not the mere breath of applause, not a faint im- 
potent wish of happiness which evaporates and is lost in 
the air : but a substantial, operative blessing, which carries 
its own fulfillment with it : clothing them with happiness 
like a garment, surrounding them with it like an element, 
blending it with their nature, glorifying, or turning them 
into glory. If a fellow creature blessed them, it only im- 
plied that he loved them ; but to be blessed and beloved of 
God, can only be because they are lovely. How irrever- 
sible the blessing ! for, if he blesses, who can curse ? the 
hatred and imprecations of the universe could not deprive 
them of it. ' Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for you. } More than a mansion, a city, 
a province — a kingdom, is yours ; honor in its fountain ; 
unbounded resources ; freedom and dominion not to be 
questioned ; royalty shared with the King of kings. A 
kingdom prepared, adapted in all its arrangements to your 
renewed natures ; a state in which your lofty aspirations 
and desires have been amply and expressly provided for. 
While on earth, you evinced the royalty of your descent ; 
you exercised dominion over sin ; you sought to give laws 
to the world; to establish a new reign upon earth; you 
cultivated the noblest principles ; pursued high and regal 
objects ; now realize your most enlarged desires, ascend 
your thrones, and assume your crowns. The kingdom 
was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

18 



290 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

Your happiness engaged the eternal mind before the world 
began : he purposed it, planned it, secured it, ages before 
your existence. If wisdom rejoiced, from eternity, in the 
habitable parts of the earth ; if she shared her delights 
prospectively with the sons of men, while they would be 
passing their probationary state, how much more would 
she love to ponder the vision of their final glorification in 
heaven; if the bare anticipation of providing for their re- 
ception on earth, of mingling with them, taking to them 
blessings from heaven, and seeing them provisionally hap- 
py in the low vale of mortality : if the prospect of this fill- 
ed her with joy, how much more would the completion of 
all her plans, and the consummation of their happiness, 
in the crowns and thrones of the heavenly state, engage 
her care and enrapture her with delight. Come, possess a 
kingdom which existed for you in the divine idea, before 
the earth itself was made. 

O what a welcome this ! Yet vast as it is, he seems on- 
ly to ease his infinite heart in uttering it. What fragrant 
breathings of grace, filling the universe with vital odors! 
What ravishing accents to those addressed ! they will feel 
that till then they never heard the sound of music ! Then 
first will they begin to respire. Then will their glory reach 
its meridian, to know no decline. Then will their joy at- 
tain its full tide mark, to know no ebb. Less than this 
would not satisfy the blessed Lord himself. For this he 
guaranteed, as the reward of his mediation ; on this his 
heart has ever been set. Could he not bring forth, on the 
occasion all the reserved treasures of the Godhead, he 
would account himself dishonored and defeated. But even 
he shall be satisfied : even He, as he looks on his people, 
shall say, both for himself and for them, ' It is enough.' 
Glory shall then cast off its last veil ; and as it offers itself 
to their full-eyed view, and looks forth upon them, they 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 291 

Mir shall open to it their inmost souls, they shall themselves be- 
come glory. 

4 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, De- 
part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for 
the devil and his angels.' Of heaven it is said, it was 
prepared for the righteous; prepared for them from the 
foundation of the world: but it is not said of hell, that it 
was prepared for the ungodly ; that was prepared origin- 
ally for the devil and his angels. Hell did not form a pri- 
mary part of the creation ; there was a time when there was 
no hell in the universe ; such a place did not enter into 
God's primitive design ; it was, so to speak, accidental, 
made necessary by sin ; it was an after creation, forced on 
the Almighty that he might provide a receptacle for guilt. 
Now, if he prepared heaven from the first, it shows that 
he created man to be happy : and if he did not from the 
first prepare a hell, it shows that he did not create any for 
misery. No, hell was not provided, its flames were not kin- 
dled at first for man, but for Satan and his angels. Yet, 
being prepared, the dreadful place can receive any other 
rebels as well as they : and, as sinners league with them 
now, and do the works of the devil, they must finally share 
in the same suffering, in the same place. The sinner renders 
their place his own ; and the sentence of the last day rati- 
fies the awful arrangement. 

And who can tell the terrible import of this curse ! A 

curse uttered by God : by the lips of him whose supreme 
delight it is to bless ! What must sin be, that it can force 
a curse from infinite goodness ; that it can move the divine 
temperament to displeasure ; that it can make it an appro- 
piate act, a worthy, becoming, and even godlike act, 
for infinite love to utter a malediction on the work of 
his own hands ! And such a malediction ! Every ac- 
cent is lightning ; every word is loaded with misery, is 
full of perdition. It is a sentence, every clause of which 



292 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

adds a hell to the misery already denounced, till it reaches 
the climax of woe — a sentence in which one vial alter an- 
other of Almighty wrath is poured out, till the whole is 
discharged: the wrath of God distilled — a sentence, in 
which are gathered up, and compressed into one, all the 
curses of God, requiring an eternity to comprehend and ex- 
haust them. Bat it is not for tongue to describe it : it is for 
the heart to ponder, for the imagination to conceive ; and 
muse on it the most fertile conception may, without any 
danger of excess. Then first will the ungodly know what 
is meant by punishment. Then will they begin to esti- 
mate truly the dreadful nature of their situation. And 
oh! when the prospect shall first open upon them, when 
they shall find that God himself is against them, when 
they shall hear themselves outlawed by divine proclamation, 
when they shall find that on God saying depart, every 
thing else, every being, every place, but hell, shall repeat 
depart ; casting them forth, disowning, refusing them sym- 
pathy and refuge ; when they shall feel that the curse is 
made to enter and possess the very centre of their being ; 
that it is not a mere stigma branded on their foreheads, but 
a substantial curse, written upon their hearts in characters 
of living fire ; burnt in, scorching and consuming their 
immortality; that they have the wrath of God for a soul . 
will they not call on universal nature to mourn with them 
to aid them in expressing their mighty grief, to assist them 
in bewailing the immensity and eternity of their loss ! 

' And these shall go away into everlasting punishment ; 
but the righteous into life eternal.' Then the future pun- 
ishment of the finally impenitent will be eternal. ' They 
shall not see life ;' ' their worm dieth not, and their fire is 
not quenched.' If they continued to deteriorate here under 
a remedial economy of grace, is their character likely to be 
ameliorated in a state where all the elements of universal 
evil shall be collected and combined together ? Whatever 



HIS ORIGINALITY. 293 

I may be the punishment inflicted upon them from without, it 
is certain its sting will be supplied from an angry conscience, 
and its hottest fervors from the inkindled passions within 
'them; and as these belong to the soul, as they number 
I among its essential qualities, they will be immortal like the 
soul itself. And not only has our Lord employed the same 
term to denote the duration of misery, which he has applied 
to the duration of happiness, thus implying that they will 
be parallel to each other; not only has he employed posi- 
tive terms, which, indeed, may be understood in various de- 
grees of latitude ; he has also used negative terms, and a 
negation admits of no degrees ; he has spoken of future 
punishment as a state of endless privation. He has threat- 
ened it as the worst evil, the consummation of all evil ; but 
if it were temporary and remedial, if it meant only a quan- 
tum of suffering bearing a relation to eventual happiness, 
it should rather be spoken of, like the present afflictions of 
the righteous, not in the language of threatening, but of 
promise. But 'the wicked shall go away into everlasting 
punishment :' and though it may now be impossible, with 
our present human feelings and limited faculties, to compre- 
hend the idea ; for aught we know, the existence of eternal 
misery may hereafter be shown not only to consist with, 
but to be even the necessary effect of a perfect goverment, 
and of supreme goodness. 

But, while ultimate justice shall be conducting the wick- 
ed away into everlasting darkness, what shall become of the 
righteous? They will be severed from the heirs of wrath, 
as far as heaven and hell asunder. Our Lord teaches us 
that they shall see God:' whether the bodily eye shall share 
in the vision or not, may probably depend on the degree 
in which their material part shall be refined and made 
spiritual ; but they shall see him with that which is the 
true organ of sight in divine things, the renewed heart ; 
they shall behold every feature of his image reflected in 



294 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the mirror of their purified nature. They shall be ' equal 
unto the angels ; ' they shall be able to approach as close- 
ly to the throne of God, and to gaze as stedfastly on the 
unveiled splendors of that throne : they will be able to fill 
every office that angels fill, to soar to equal heights, and 
to maintain as untiring a flight in the service of God ; they 
will in every way be worthy of the angelic brotherhood, 
and able to run with them in the race of divine perfection. 
They shall then ' be with him where he is, to behold his 
glory ; ' to be conducted by him into the inmost recesses 
of his glory ; to see him throw open and bring out all the 
glory that is peculiarly his ; to be the objects on which that 
glory shall fall and accumulate: to have their nature wed- 
ded to happiness and him for ever. Then shall his ardent 
desire be gratified, ' that they all may be one in him : ' by 
being one in all, he will make all one ; by being all in 
every part, he will become the unity of the whole; so that 
they shall ever be viewed, and spoken of, and treated as 
one with, and a part of himself. ' Then shall the righte- 
ous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father ; ' 
in a world where all is splendor, they shall yet distinctly 
shine, shine as suns for ever and ever. 

We shall conclude this section of our subject with two 
remarks. First, although the revelation of our immortal- 
ity is not the specific object of the gospel, yet by combining 
it with the knowledge of salvation, our Lord has made it 
what no mere human philosophy could have done, a guid- 
ing principle of life. He has made it the Pharos of the 
universe; it is true indeed, that, prior to his coming, his 
colossal truth existed ; but it lay prostrate on the earth, an 
undefined rough-hewn mass, creating shadow instead of 
light; while the majority of those who viewed it could 
only speculate about the uses to which it might be applied. 
But our Lord, having given it an angel-form, up-reared its 






HIS ORIGINALITY. 295 

gigantic stature to the skies, kindled its beacon fire, and 
placed it in a line with the haven of eternity ; that by 
flinging its warning light across the dark and perilous 
ocean of life, it might enable the endangered voyagers to 
reach the port of futurity in peace. And how many, in 
every age, by steering in the track of its radiance, have 
outlived the billows and perils of the deep, and at length 
' escaped safe to land.' 

Our second remark is, that in his representations of the 
last day, our Lord appears to set no bounds to his estimate 
of his own importance to man. When we hear him an- 
nounce, ' I am the light of the world,' even then we cannot 
forbear exclaiming, 'What must be the dignity of him 
who can thus stand up and say, in the face of the sun, ' I 
compare claims with that great source and element of 
light ; ' what must be his own conception of his greatness 
and value, when he can thus seek to eclipse the noon-day 
sun, and challenge for himself the attention of the world!' 
But in his representations of the last day, he makes him- 
self the light of both worlds, the centre of the universe. 
Now what must be his own idea of his ability and worth, 
that, having unveiled so tremendous a scene, he should 
make himself the central object? What must be his own 
estimate of the saving power of his gospel, that he should 
select the awful ampitheatre of the judgment in which to 
try its efficacy ; that he should deem it an antidote for in- 
finite terror, the terrors of the last day? Had he suppos- 
ed its efficacy was limited, he would have made its limit 
the measure of his disclosures of the judgment day. He 
would have been silent concerning many of its most alarm- 
ing features, he would have lifted the veil with a guarded 
hand, lest by raising it to its utmost height, he should 
awaken fears beyond his power to allay. But, in the full 
confidence of its efficacy to sustain and to save, » he rolls 



296 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

back the face of his throne, summons mankind before him, 
calls for his thunders, and the ministers of his wrath, un- 
covers the mouth of the bottomless pit; and, while justice 
is in its full career of punishment, he throws over his peo- 
ple the shield of his favor, and canopies them with al- 
mighty grace. Well can he afford to disclose the utmost 
terrors of that day, for he feels that he is able to save unto 
the uttermost ; he knows that even now he can pluck from 
the mind the sting of conscious guilt, and replace it with 
a peace passing ail understanding, thus enabling his dis- 
ciples to long and look for his appearing ; and he knows 
that then, while all the guilty shall wail because of him, 
his people, upheld by his grace, shall rise superior to dis- 
may, and shall only recognise in the pomp and grandeur 
of the scene, the celebration of their own triumph, and oc- 
casions for their joy. The saved and the lost will then 
meet together for the last time in contrast before his throne. 
.Ajid, as it will be the last time the righteous will be able 
to triumph on so large a scale before the intermediate eyes 
of the wicked ; and, as the scene will be enacted partly to 
make that triumph complete, we may be assured that every 
thing present will tend to crown their glory with perfec- 
tion. Sin will have reached maturity in the wicked, and 
prepared them for hell ; holiness will have attained matu- 
rity in the righteous, and prepared them for heaven ; and 
when the purity and beauty, the joy and glory on the right 
hand, shall be seen in immediate contrast with the awful 
array on the left, all will acknowledge that the salvation of 
his people, as there displayed, is a worthy result of all his 
stupendous plans, and abundantly exceeds all the lofty 
things he has spoken concerning them. In that one scene 
shall be combined, the consummation of all the pla is of 
time, the rehearsal of all the glories of eternity. Oh, who 
can revere him too profoundly, love him too ardently, or 
rely on him too confidently. 



ESSAY III. 
SPIRITUALITY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 



' The words that I speak unto you are Spirit, and are life.' 



I. The doctrine of the spirituality of the divine nature, 
lies at the foundation of all true religion, Accordingly, to 
assert and preserve it was one of the avowed designs of 
the Jewish economy. But the frequency with which it 
became necessary for God to republish and defend the doc- 
trine, showed how unknown and uncongenial it is to the 
unenlightened mind of man, and how difficult to maintain 
it in combination with an economy of carnal ordinances. 
It is true, indeed, that for some time prior to the advent of 
Christ, the Jews had not so entirely lost it as to relapse 
into the worship of idols ; yet, short of this, their views of 
God were at perfect variance with the belief of his spiritu- 
al nature. Divesting him of all the properties peculiar to 
that nature, the popular creed pourtrayed him as circum- 
scribed in his essence, and local in his residence, with a 
jurisdiction which dispensed with the inward homage of 
the heart, and which only took cognizance of outward 
acts. 

But if, in the prevailing belief of the Jews, the Deity was 
only almost, in that of the heathen world, he was alto- 
gether such a one as themselves. They had gradually 
disqualified themselves for all virtue, and prepared them- 
selves for the commission of every vice, by debasing him 
to a level with themselves, and ascribing to him the attri- 
butes of a corporeal being. God — the invisible, the al- 



298 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

mighty, the omnipresent, the omniscient Spirit — was not in 
all their thoughts. What an awful vacuity ! He was ex- 
cluded from his own world; lost to his intelligent creatures ; 
while his place was occupied with the fictions of human 
fancy, and beings of material form. 

1 God is a Spirit ; ' such is the simple announcement by 
which Jesus dispersed the legions of idolatrous error, and 
restored God to the world. This was the fundamental 
principle of his theology. In harmony with its import- 
ance, he taught it in every stage of his ministry, and in all 
varieties of form. The God he proclaimed is all-knowing 
and every where present, and to whom all things are pos- 
sible; a being whom no man hath seen nor can see, and 
who requires to be worshipped in spirit and in truth ; whose 
new evangelical kingdom on earth is to be seated in the 
human soul, having spiritual laws enforced by spiritual 
sanctions, and administered by the agency of his Holy 
Spirit. By thus attesting the spirituality of the divine na- 
ture, and making it a fundamental doctrine of his gospel, 
our Lord lifted the mind of man from earth to heaven ; pro- 
vided against all our tendencies to materialise and debase 
religion ; furnished a motive for every virtue ; kindled in 
his church a central, all pervading light: and animated all 
piety with a living soul. 

II. Agreeably to the spirituality of the Supreme Being, 
and the relation in which we stand to him as his spiritual 
offspring, in exercising the prerogative of lawgiver, he 
had legislated for the soul. Human laws, for reasons the 
most obvious, can only take cognizance of outward acts. 
But even the positive rites of the Jewish code however car- 
nal in their nature, and temporary in their obligation, were 
specifically designed and constructed for the soul ; while of 
the moral law, the soul was the proper sphere, the peculiar 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 299 

province of jurisdiction ; it claims authority over actions only 
as they are the motions and expressions of the in-dwelling 
soul. It is, in effect, the voice of God speaking to the soul, 
and for it ; giving utterance and energy to the enlightened 
and original dictates of the man within. But in entire ob- 
livion or open defiance, of its spiritual nature, the Jews had 
1 made it of none effect by their tradition.' Having de- 
throned and dismissed it from within, they limited its ju- 
risdiction to the outward life, guarding every avenue by 
which it might return and resume its seat by a trivial cere- 
mony, or a precarious tradition. And not only so, they 
bought themselves off at pleasure, from even an outward 
observance of the moral law, purchased a dispensation to 
transgress it, at the easy price of a little additional punctili- 
ousness in the ritual worship. Thus discredited and dis- 
owned, its authority was merely nominal ; and the only 
rank it was permitted to take was below the emptiest su- 
perstition. 

But Jesus came to its rescue; restored to it the spirit 
and office which, in their hands, it had lost. The tables 
of the law, prostate and defaced, and overlaid with the long 
accumulated dust and rubbish of rabbinical lore, he drew 
forth and again set up : and retracing their characters afresh 
as with the finger of infinite purity, he republished them 
with an authority and effect which the fires of Sinai re- 
kindled could not have increased. As expounded and en- 
forced by his lips, especially in his sermon on the mount, 
they not only retrieved their original honors, but acquired 
a more perfectly reasoned and undeniable title to rule and 
reign in the heart. He claimed for the operation of the 
divine law, a scope and space as free and unbounded as the 
divine essence. He showed that, like the elemental 
fire, it is not only present where it is grossly visible, 
but that it is all-pervading ; that, with a lidless and un- 
slumbering eye, its gaze is fixed on all the thoughts and 



300 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ways of the world ; that it beholds nothing of an indiffer- 
ent nature in the whole scene ; but that noting, discrimina- 
ting, and weighing all things, it every where and in every 
thing discovers the elements of good or evil, approving or 
condemning whatever transpires. Opening the dark and 
secret chambers of the heart, he showed it there searching 
for sin ; having for its torch the sword of avenging justice, 
with which it flashed on the face of conscience as it pass- 
ed, and detected sins which had not yet dared to come forth 
in action. He showed it there, discovering and arraign- 
ing evil in its first rudiments ; rage, in its spark : licen- 
tiousness, in its first glance ; and murder ambushed in an 
unbreathed and unsuspected thought : sin in its seed, con- 
cealing the coming transgression, enclosing the future hell. 
So multiplied were the subdivisions, and so minute the 
gradations of duty, devised by the Jews, that the obliga- 
tions of holiness were well-nigh forgotten, in endless dis- 
putes about the comparative importance and precedence of 
its several branches. Morality, as a practice, was in dan- 
ger of being sentenced to wait, till morality, as a science, 
should be complete; till they should succeed in the hope- 
less task of determining the merits, and adjusting the claims 
of its respective parts, so as to give it the scholastic air of 
a system. Resolving their endless distinctions of duty into 
two classes, our Lord not only declared which is the first 
and great command, he showed them that the principle of 
all obedience, and the substance of all law, are essentially 
the same : that love is the fulfilling of the law. He taught 
that 'all the law and the prophets,' all the duties enjoined 
from the foundation of the world are resolvable into this 
as their life and essence : and that consequently, w 7 herever 
this principle exists, though the subjects of it may be igno- 
rant that such duties have been formally enjoined, it would 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 301 

. by the necessity of its nature unfold and expand, putting 
forth all the fruits and beauties of holiness : that it is the 
principle which is in the stead of law, and the fulfillment 

■ of all law. 

And to the law of God thus explained and enforced, he 
put the seal of eternity. In the hands of the Jews, it had 
been made to vary its demands, accommodating its require- 
ments to the changing temperature of times and circum- 
stances; but, as the principles on which it rests ean know 
no change, he proclaimed its immutability. ' For verily 
I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one 
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.' 
Having raised and restored it to all its original claims, he 
published it anew as the rule of our spiritual nature ; the 
perfect, universal, and perpetual standard, to which the en- 
tire man must be conformed. 

III. From his exposition of the moral law, it is only a 
short and easy transition to the spiritual character which 
his teaching prescribed for, 

1. The worship of God. There is a sense in which 
spiritual devotion stands opposed to that which is local. 
Among the many restrictions peculiar to the Jewish econ- 
omy, one was, that after the erection of the temple at Jeru- 
salem, it became impious to perform certain rites at any 
other place. Hence the difficulty expressed by the woman 
of Samaria, as to the proper place of devotion. Jesus an- 
nounced that, by the introduction of the gospel, all such 
local distinctions would cease, and that believers would 
offer their spiritual sacrifices wherever, and as often as they 
chose. On another occasion he declared to his disciples, 
4 Wherever two or three are met together in my name, there 
am I in the midst of them ; ' thus asserting the spirituality 
and immensity of his divine nature, and harmonizing it 



302 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

with the spiritual character and universal extension of his 
church. While by the final commission which he gave 
to his disciples to carry his gospel into all nations, he abro- 
gated the law of local sanctity, consecrated the wide world 
to the worship of God, and appointed the whole' earth to 
be ' the mountain of holiness.' 

2. The spirituality of worship which Jesus taught is 
contradistinguished from ceremonial observances. God is 
a spirit, and the only devotion compatible with his nature 
is that which flows from the souls of his worshippers. In 
prescribing the ritual part of a religion, he is to be regard- 
ed as consulting not the spirituality of his own, but the 
materiality and infirmities of our nature ; as relaxing the 
demands of his heavenly, to meet the necessities of our 
earthly. But as his only aim, in thus suspending the re- 
quirements which are proper to his nature, is to engage 
and assist our souls in his service, so the religion which 
attains this end with the fewest forms is regarded by him 
as the most perfect. It is more congenial to his spiritual 
nature, and less ensnaring to our formality. On this prin- 
ciple it is that the Christian dispensation, which when 
compared with the Jewish, ranks so much higher in moral 
excellence, was assigned to the hands of Jesus to bestow 
as an incomparably better gift. And of the heavenly state, 
where devotion is carried to the highest perfection, John 
informs us that he saw no temple therein : it is dispensed 
with there, as an unnecessary appendage. The worshippers 
there are independent of time, and place, and circumstance. 
By such restrictions they would deem their worship im- 
peded and disfigured. Devotion there, divested of all its 
earthly vestments, is reduced to its pure essential elements. 
The soul of religion enters there alone, and hence the su- 
periority and perfection of the worship. 

The ritual of the Jews indeed prescribed a multitude of 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 303 

j perpetually recurring observances. But, though burdened 
< with ceremonies, it was highly significant of all that is 
. spiritual and essential in the present economy. That its 
rites were not necessary to salvation must have been evi- 
i dent to the reflecting Israelite, from the fact that many had 
been saved before they were prescribed. To secure and 
f vindicate the spirituality of the divine worship was one of 
i its chief and avowed objects. For this the Almighty pro- 
, claimed himself a jealous God. Hence, too, the rigorous 
i prohibition of graven images ; the certain and awful pun- 
, ishment which followed every lapse into idolatry ; the fre- 
i quency with which he directed his prophets to correct 
i their formality by partially disparaging the appointed forms 
of their service, ' desiring mercy and not sacrifice, and the 
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings ; ' by insist- 
ing on the emptiness of ritual worship, unless accompa- 
nied by the sacrifice of a contrite spirit ; by reminding 
them during seasons of captivity and war, when the ob- 
servance of their rites was not in their power, that if they 
still retained the piety of the heart, they possessed the es- 
sence and core of true religion; all of which combined to 
| preserve and promote the spirituality of their devotion. 
Piety, indeed, has always been composed of the same ele- 
ments, and issued in the same result — the production of 
spiritual men. For this, the legal economy may be said 
to have travailed and been in birth. Yet, however labo- 
rious the process, and elemental the character it produ- 
ced, it could be satisfied with nothing less. Disowning 
and rejecting the formalist as a reproach, it acknowledged 
for its offspring none who bore not its spiritual impress ; 
and, equally with the gospel, reserved its ultimate rewards 
for the ' Israelite indeed.' Over every gate of the temple, 
it may be said to have exhibited this inscription, ' He is not 
a Jew who is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision 



304 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew who is one 
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit 
and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of 
God.' 

But though that economy contemplated the pure and 
cordial worship of God, yet spirituality was not its char- 
acteristic. It was light only in comparison with the sur- 
rounding darkness of ignorance and idolatry. As viewed 
from heaven its devotion must have appeared remote, labo- 
rious, and material. Its name, to be descriptive and appro- 
priate, could only be taken from its ritual character ; hence 
it is denominated, ' the hand-writing of ordinances ; ' ' the 
law of commandments contained in ordinances ; ' ' a figure 
for the time then present ; ' ' which stood only in meats 
and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances ; ' 
and for a similar reason its disciples called themselves the 
temple and the circumcision. Each of the supernatural 
doctrines it taught was veiled. It contained truth only in 
the seed or the husk. Its most striking and instructive 
parts were 'only figures of the true.' The law made 
nothing perfect. It left the Adorable himself in shadow. 
Like its own awful and unapproachable veil, it at once 
contained and concealed ; investing the spiritual with ma- 
terial forms, and placing the glorious in distant obscurity. 

But it was only meant for a temporary purpose : ' being 
imposed until the time of reformation ' by Christ. In the 
execution of his office he gradually repealed the wnole 
ceremonial. ' Go,' said he, ' and learn what that meaneth, 
I will have mercy and not sacrifice ; ' thus virtually dis- 
countenancing the ritual of their religion, he exalted char- 
acter into supreme importance, implying its independent 
sufficiency, and the possibility that under a new dispensa- 
tion it might exist alone. By dispensing with all pomp 
and state in his own person, and demanding regeneration 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 305 

as the only qualification for the kingdom of God ; he taught 
that religion was henceforth to prove its independence of 
forms ; that, dismissing all its earthly allies and appenda- 
ges, it was to rest its claims on its own intrinsic merits ; to 
walk the earth in unattended majesty, indebted for all its 
attractions and triumphs, to the invisible Spirit alone. 

His prediction of the entire destruction of the temple, 
intimated the approaching purification of religion. The 
temple was the fixed and only home of the ceremonial in- 
stitute. During the earlier history of that institute it had 
been migratory ; ' I have not,' saith God, 'dwelt in any 
house since the time that I brought up the children of Is- 
rael out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a 
tent and in a tabernacle.' The erection of the temple gave 
to it locality, consolidation, and repose ; was the appropriate 
token and promise of its stability ; and accordingly around 
that sacred fane the nation settled and built a home in re- 
liance on that stability. The unqualified prediction of its 
fall then involved the abrogation of its peculiar rites. The 
prophecy of its former demolition, only involved the sus- 
pension of these rites ; for it was accompanied and even 
preceded by a promise of its restoration. But Jesus, by 
announcing the deletion, the utter erasure of the temple 
from the face of the earth, without any reserve for the fu- 
ture, intimated the irrevocable nature of its fall, the visible 
repeal of the religion which dwelt in it, and ' the bringing 
in of a better hope, by the which we draw nigh unto God.' 

By announcing that he was greater than the temple, he 
virtually displaced it with all its contents, and remained 
himself in the place it had occupied : and by proclaiming 
himself ' the way, the truth, and the life,' he intimated that 
all the typic rites had found their prototype and fulfillment 
in himself, and that henceforth all the offices of the church 
would be absorbed and centred in himself alone. Hither- 

19 



306 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

to, the worship of God had been conducted, so to speak, 
at a distance, believers approaching- him only through in- 
termediate forms ; but Jesus annihilated that distance and 
dispensed with these forms: supplying them with the in- 
cense of his own name, he constitutes each of them a spir- 
itual priest, leads them direct to an immediate audience 
with God, and, placing them around the footstool of mercy, 
commands them to ' ask and receive, that their joy may be 
full-' When solicited to decide between the respective 
merits of the Jewish and Samaritan rituals, he intimated 
that the time had arrived when the question ceased to be 
important, since both of them were about to be annulled 
and superseded ; ' The hour cometh,' said he, • and now is, 
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship 
him.' 

In harmony with this representation, the disciples of 
Christ are distinguished as, ' the true circumcision, who 
worship God in the Spirit.' He introduces them into a 
church from which he has swept every vestige of the an- 
cient rites. He allows them to restore none of these rites, 
nor to substitute aught in lieu of them, at the awful peril 
of his displeasure. When they come into his courts, he 
requires that nothing be laid upon his altar but ' spiritual 
sacrifices ; ' that nothing appear before him but our spirits 
communing with his Spirit. He looks for an assembly of 
human hearts, of naked human hearts ; and when he be- 
holds them engaged, delighted, absorbed in his worship, 
he contemplates an object far more acceptable than the 
flaming sacrifice of the whole material world. 

And the quality of the provision which he has made for 
his worship, perfectly corresponds with the spirituality of 
its nature and requirements. He has placed it under the 
entire superintendence of the Holy Spirit, whose aid he 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 307 

instructed his disciples to consider as absolutely necessary 
and all-sufficient. A convert from Judaism must have felt 
an amazing change, in passing from its crowded and pomp- 
ous ritual, to the severe simplicity of the christian church. 
In a literal sense, he exchanged the gorgeous magnificence 
; of the temple for .the bare and unpretending plainness of 
4 an upper room ; ' and in a spiritual point of view he did 
the same. But then, among the new and numerous ad- 
vantages arising from the transition, it might be said that 
he found that room to be within the veil. He left the rites 
to stand in the presence of the God. He emerged from 
the cloud of incense to find himself alone with the great 
Spirit of the new dispensation. ' Likewise also the Spirit,' 
he could say, ' helpeth our infirmities.' Employed by Jesus, 
the divine Spirit whom he departed to send, compensates 
for the loss of the material sanctuary by erecting the soul 
of the believer into a living temple. Having cleansed and 
made it consecrate, and kindled on its altar a sacred fire, 
he himself condescends to assume the office of conducting 
its worship. Acting the part of its high priest and inter- 
cessor, he prepares and presents to God the welcome sac- 
rifice of a broken and contrite heart. He calls the thoughts, 
and affections, and desires away from the world, and con- 
ducts them like a band of humble worshippers to the throne 
of God ; constraining the soul and all that is within it, to 
bless and praise his holy name. 

3. Another species of worship to which spiritual and 
acceptable devotion is opposed, is that which is prescribed 
by human authority. Destitute of that faith which ranges 
the invisible world, and which makes the interior of the 
temple above its own, the Jews sought to supply the defect 
by perpetually multiplying the objects and observances of 
their earthly temple. Being prevented, by the unchange- 
able nature of their constitution, from cultivating the science 



303 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

of civil legislation; and by the intrusion of foreign domi- 
nation, from the exercise of the highest executive powers* 
religion was doomed to receive the undivided attentions of 
worldly ambition ; the temple was the great national valve 
through which that principle, which loves to enact and 
create, found an escape. But to add to the appointments 
of God in religion, to legislate where he has been legis- 
lating before, is to imply that we understand the wants and 
niceties of our human, and the requirements of his divine 
nature, better than he does, and are more concerned to 
meet them. It is to set up our throne by his throne, and 
to imply that we possess authority to bind the conscience 
and control the heart. Besides, so comprehensive and per- 
fect are the divine appointments, however few and simple 
they may seem, that it is impossible for man to introduce 
additions without in some way deranging and displacing 
these prior appointments, and doing violence to some part 
of human nature. If his petty parasitical additions take 
root, they gradually shade and overtop the original ordi- 
nances of God, depriving them of all that reverence of soul 
■which is the appropriate soil of religion, and which be- 
longs to it alone. If, on the other hand, they incur the 
neglect their origin deserves, they are likely to involve the 
religion about which they have entwined in the same un- 
distinguishing contempt. Hence, said Jesus, 'Every plant 
which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be root- 
ed up.' Arraigning the Scribes and Pharisees, the profane 
usurpers of religious authority, he demanded, • Why do 
ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?' 
And having cited a single instance of their impiety, he 
added, ' Thus have ye made the commandment of God of 
none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, w T ell did 
Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh 
unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 309 

lips ; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they 
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of 
men.' 

Piety, or religious obedience, is a virtue in the sight of 
God, only as it is a compliance with his authority ; so that 
for man to assume the power of prescribing, is to make 
virtue impossible : it is to poison duty at the fountain- 
head ; to turn the waters of the sanctuary into an element 
of impurity and death. To save his purer religion from 
this deadly ingredient — that is, if any language could have 
saved it— not only did Jesus institute a more spiritual wor- 
ship, and one therefore less liable to combine with human 
admixtures, he proclaims its entireness and sufficiency, and 
his own exclusive authority in the church. To those who 
would convert his house into a battlemented and frowning 
fortress, he addresses the language of mild remonstrance, 
and says, ' ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of 
* The Son of man came not to destroy men's lives, but to 
save them.' ' Put up the sword again into its place.' ' If 
my kingdom were of this world then would my servants 
fight, but now is it not from hence.' Stripping off the tinsel 
trappings, with which men in their love for pomp and show 
would fain adorn his spiritual throne, he reminds them that 
his kingdom is not of this world. He authoritatively silen- 
ces the lowest tone, the first syllable, of human legislation 
in his worship, by proclaiming, • One is your master, even 
Christ ; and all ye are brethren.' On conducting the Gen- 
tile world into his church, his disciples were to inculcate 
the observance of his commands, and his alone : — ' teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I have command- 
ed ; ' — this is, at once, the ample extent, and the well defin- 
ed limits of the evangelical commission. Drawing around 
his church a line of spiritual interdiction, he requires that 
before it be crossed, every badge of authority be laid aside, 



310 HIS SPIRITUALITY. 

that every high thing which exalteth itself be left without, 
and allows nothing to obtain currency and acceptance as 
devotion within, which does not bear the mintage and im- 
press of his image, the superscription of his name. 

4. And the spirituality of devotion which Jesus taught 
is opposed to that which is formal and insincere. In relig- 
ion the heart is every thing ; if the heart be absent from 
the worship of God, the man is absent ; or, what is worse, 
the Omniscient beholds, in the stead of a sincere worship- 
per, a piece of sole.mn formality going through the attitudes 
and signs of devotion, and even uttering the affecting lan- 
guage of confession, supplication, and praise, but entirely 
devoid of any corresponding emotions within. He beholds 
moreover, in the rights of such worship, an array of spir- 
itual idols : of means converted into ends ; of forms erect- 
ed into objects of trust, supplanting him and substituted in 
his stead, robbing him of the homage which is due unto 
his name. The idols of the heathen stood between earth 
and heaven, obscuring the vision of God, intercepting and 
appropriating the mountain incense which should have as- 
cended to the eternal throne. The rites of the formalist 
are his spiritual idols ; instead of leading his thoughts on- 
wards to God, they stand between him and the professed 
object of his worship, concealing God from his view, en- 
grossing his soul to themselves, and leaving behind them 
a feeling of satisfaction simply because they have been re- 
vered and observed. 

By attesting the spirituality of the divine nature, our 
Lord taught that the heart is indispensable in devotion. 
For if God be a spirit, it follows that our worship, to be ac- 
ceptable, must correspond with his nature. Accordingly, 
when we come before him, he requires that the soul, the 
noblest part of our nature, should do him homage ; that 
our thoughts should relate to him, our affections embrace 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 311 

him, that our spiritual nature should go forth and seek 
communion with him ; nor can he be imposed on by mere 
forms and semblances, for, being spirit, he is perfectly ac- 
quainted with ail other spirits ; intimately, and always 
present with them. 

If devotion be regarded as the use and application of a 
spiritual remedy, the Savior taught the same important les- 
son, by describing the heart as the seat of our moral disease, 

4 Out of the heart,' said he, ' proceed evil thoughts, 

these are the things which defile a man ; but to eat bread 
with unwashed hands, this defileth not a man.' The heart 
then is the source of moral defilement ; not only does it 
originate all the evil which appears in the life, it must plead 
guilty to a mass of evil which never comes forth into the 
conduct; the ungodliness that appears in the life, is barely 
the overflowings of an ungodly heart. It originates many 
a thought which the tongue never breathes in the softest 
whisper; and many a desire which is smothered in the 
birth as too monstrous to see the day ; and purposes with- 
out number, for which the darkness of night would be too 
light and the secrecy of solitude too public. Well may 
the prophet exclaim, in allusion to its desperate wickedness, 
'Who can know it?' it has intricacies, which no other 
creature can penetrate ; recesses, which the man himself 
cannot explore ; depths w r hich God alone is able to fathom. 
It is there that error takes its rise as from a fountain, and 
thence all the streams of error are constantly fed. There 
it is that sin sows its poisonous seed as in ground prepared 
for its reception, and where it is sure to take root. There 
it is that malice muses its deep-laid projects of revenge ; 
that lust revels in thoughts of sensual indulgence; that 
treachery plots and cherishes its dark designs. It is in 
the heart that the fool says what he fears to utter with 
his tongue, ' No God.' There it is that scepticism harbors 



312 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

its hard thoughts of God, and that our natural enmity 
against him finds a home. It is the treasury of sin, where 
all its resources are kept against the hour of opportunity. 
It is the hiding place of sin, where it often lurks unknown 
to us, and whence it frequently steals forth and takes us by 
surprise. It is the first place which sin enters, and the 
last which it leaves ; for sin not only takes up its abode in 
the heart before it appears in the conduct, but how often 
does it occur, that after sin has been banished from the out- 
ward life, it only retires back again and hides itself in the 
heart. Having taken up a commanding position in the 
heart and fortified and entrenched itself there, it mocks 
every effort made to dislodge it, which does not reach and 
shake the very centre of our being. 

Religion then, the antagonist force which is to expel sin 
from our nature, must be conveyed into the same seat, must 
meet the enemy on its own ground, must attack and van- 
quish it in its strong hold. ' Make the tree good,' saith 
Christ, ' and the fruit will be good.' Our visible piety 
must be the fruit of a tree whose roots are struck deep in 
the heart. 

The loftiest distinction in his kingdom he reserved for 
the pure in heart. According to a law in nature which uni- 
versally prevails, a change in the constitution of any crea- 
ture is followed by a corresponding change in his condi- 
tion. When changed from pollution to purity, his people 
shall be blessed by purity, be brought into the presence of 
celestial purity, be beloved by infinite purity, shall ascend 
to the beatific vision of God as to their original birth- 
right. ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God.' 

While leading his disciples into the presence of God, 
he impressed on them what they were chiefly to implore ; 
they were to solicit that all-comprehending gift, the Holy 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 313 

Spirit : a gift which, from its very nature, would demand 
: their heart for the place of its reception. And if it be 
found impossible, owing to a fixed and infallible law of our 
being, to associate even with a fellow-mortal without re- 
ceiving moral modification, a degree of assimilation to 
his character, how can the supreme, the ever-active and all- 
assimilating Spirit, take up his abode in the midst of our 
nature without changing the heart and conforming it to his 
own holiness. 

Placing himself between the mercy-seat and the crowd 
of heartless worshippers that beset it, he shamed their vain 
ostentation, silenced their endless repetitions, and lifting 
up the drapery of the breast, he showed them to themselves 
hollow and heartless, and dismissed them with denuncia- 
tions instead of blessings. Having removed the hypocrit- 
ical throng, he sought to surround the footstool of grace 
with Israelites indeed. To eno-aofe their affections in 
prayer, he taught them to call the Being they addressed 
by the endearing name of Father; thus allaying their 
fears, and awakening and consecrating their filial instincts 
to devotion. To call forth the ardor of their souls, he held 
up a prize of prayer before their eyes ; gave to it the most 
alluring names ; called it imperishable wealth — good 
things — the Holy Spirit — eternal life ; or, as though no lan- 
guage could describe the efficacy he would assign to pray- 
er, he assured, them that ask what they would, it should be 
done for them ; that they should find the treasury of heav- 
en, and all the resources of God, open and accessible to 
them. 

To show them the triumph of feeling over form, he 
brought them by parable, into the temple, and directed their 
attention to two worshippers — the one, a pharisee, standing 
erect before God ; loud and voluble ; with nothing but vir- 
tues to recount; the envy of his nation, the pride of his 



n 



14 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



sect : the other a publican, one of the refuse of the people ; 
bowed, dejected, self-condemned ; his eyes seeking the 
dust: his heart swollen even to bursting-; his utterance 
choked ; smiting upon his breast as the seat of all his 
agony and disease ; able only to articulate, ' God be mer- 
ciful to me, a sinner.' But while the former is sent 
empty away, he shows them the other returning to his 
house, rich in the favor of God ; forgiven, justified, happy. 
Thus he taught them that prayer is a sigh; a tear; a 
look ; an act of prostration ; a transaction of the soul with 
heaven ; an affair in which the only office of the tongue is to 
unload the freighted and overflowing heart, and relieve it 
of its oppressive fulness. He encouraged and urged 
them, by his own example, by arguments, by parables, by 
appeals to the parental affections of their nature, by expli- 
cit promises, to ask, to seek, to knock, to set no bounds to 
their importunity, to give unlimited scope and ardor to 
their desires ; and that no doubt of welcome and success 
might obtrude to check the full flow and out-pouring of 
their souls to God, he affirmed it to be an invariable prin- 
ciple of the divine government, that every one that asketh, 
receiveth. And likening his new and evangelical church 
to a kingdom, and the entrance to it to a strait gate and a 
narrow way, a defile in which hell has posted its archers to 
dispute the passage, he cheered them to the onset, bade 
them, though at the risk of an eye, a hand, or even life it- 
self, to agonize, to force their way as with a spasm of en- 
ergy, and seize that kingdom by storm. 

Devotion, which to be pure and vital must derive its sup- 
plies like the living stream, by hidden communication with 
the parent ocean, he found cut off from the great Fountain 
of life, and made to consist in artificial jet-works and devi- 
ces for proud and public display. Its seclusive character 
was entirely gone. As if the only aliment on which it 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 315 

could live was publicity, as if its value depended entirely on 
the degree in which it was seen, its favorite resorts were 
the chief seats in the synagogue, the corners of the streets, 
and the market-place. Tired of the closet, and even of 
the sanctuary, devotion, or that which passed for it, had 
brought forth all its symbols and apparatus which should 
have been sacred to secresy, spread them abroad before the 
public eye, and transacted its high and solemn affairs with 
heaven at the sound of the trumpet, and in the broad 'glare 
of day. Reprobating this shameless ostentation as hypoc- 
risy, he assigned to it its only legitimate reward, the notice of 
man, the barren applause of congenial hypocrisy — and 
left it withering under the frown of God. But taking the 
subject of sincere devotion by the hand, he led him to a 
hushed and secret recess : and, closing the door, secluded 
him from the noise and observation of the world, and left 
him alone with God ; there to forget all things but God 
and himself; there to discover, in his connatural affinity 
and sympathy with God, the hidden and dormant dignity 
of his own nature; and thence to come forth, rich in the 
smiles of his heavenly Father, and, like a priest fresh 
from a cloud of incense, suffused with the holy fragrance 
of his divine employment. 

IV. But that which formed a prominent feature of our 
Lord's teaching, and which on that account claims our es- 
pecial attention, was the spirituality of his new, evangelic- 
al kingdom. He came to a people possessed by the demon 
of national ambition. Having secularized their religion, 
and thus prepared themselves for the delusion, their early 
conquests, their miraculous history, and the glowing de- 
scriptions of prophecy combined to foster the expectation of 
their coming greatness and universal empire; while the 
galling pressure of the Roman yoke rendered the vision 



316 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

doubly precious, and heightened its splendors, and filled 
them with a frenzy of impatience to behold it realized. 
The advent of Messiah alone was wanting to make them a 
nation of princes and masters of the world. On his ap- 
pearing, the nations were to be summoned ; and submit, or 
perish. Leading forth an army of conquerers, the swords 
of God, he would make the circuit of the earth, and return 
with the spoils of universal triumph. Judea would hence- 
forth be a land of palaces, the seat of terrestial power, the 
very heaven of earth. They lived in the familiar contempla- 
tion of a vision in which ' all the kingdoms of the world 
and the glories of them,' were placed at their feet; a vis- 
ion in which they saw themselves collected and ranged in 
hierarchal order, gradation above gradation, a towering 
structure of political grandeur ; a living pyramid, whose 
summit was crowned with the throne of the hope of Israel, 
invested with the insignia of universal supremacy, and at 
whose basement was stretched out in glorious perspective 
the kneeling and admiring homage of the world. Such 
anticipation, in substance, was the creed of the nation. It 
was not peculiar to a visionary few, but was pourtrayed in 
vivid and permanent imagery on every mind. Not to be- 
lieve in its approach was infidelity ; and not to pray for it 
was, to a proverb, not to pray at all. The expectation of 
it moulded their worship, imprinted itself on their lan- 
guage and on many of their habits, and kept them in a 
perpetual fever of excitement. 

In the face of this sorcerous and powerful delusion, Jesus 
propounded the simplicity of Messiah's reign. He did 
this, not merely to dissipate the existing error, but knowing 
that the principle from which it sprung is native to the hu- 
man heart, and foreseeing that the great enemy would at- 
tempt to employ it against his church, in every form 
and in every age, he sought to render it, if not impossi- 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 317 

ble, at least utterly inexcusable. His early instructions 
were devoted supremely, and even solely to this ob- 
ject. By dispatching his herald to proclaim repentance as 
the only preparation for his coming kingdom, he essayed 
to disturb the national dream and to break up the popular 
delusion. On coming to Jerusalem, he repaired to the 
temple ; and by expelling the herd of the worldly that 
profaned it, he practically taught that in his church, where- 
ever and whenever it might exist, names would be nothing 
and character every thing. Discoursing with Nicodemus 
immediately after, he insisted on the regeneration of the 
heart as indispensable to his kingdom. Then followed his 
discourse with the woman of Samaria, in which, as we have 
already seen, he left nothing to the hopes of the secular 
and carnal, but opened to the spiritual a prospect of un- 
clouded day. Proceeding into Galilee, he took up the bur- 
den of the Baptist's preaching, and repeated wherever he 
came, ' Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 
Arriving at Nazareth, he implied the spiritual design of his 
mission by appropriating the prediction which described 
the poor* the blind, the bruised, and broken hearted, as the 
objects of his peculiar care. Followed by a large and ad- 
miring multitude, many of whom had lately beheld him 
at Jerusalem when his miracles had divided attention with 
the temple itself, and all of whom were sanguine of his 
patriotic designs, he ascended a mount, marked the unholy 
enthusiasm which fired their hearts, surveyed the phan- 
toms of national greatness which played before their eyes, 
saw that their ambitious impatience was at its height, and 
opening his mouth, by the first sentence he uttered he laid 
their kingdom in the dust ; ' Blessed are the poor in Spirit 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' He corrects their 
extravagant views, not by branding and denouncing them 
but by pronouncing his benediction on sentiments of a very 



318 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

opposite description. He does not require them to relin- 
quish their hopes of a kingdom ; he promises a kingdom ; 
but then the kingdom he proposes is spiritual, a state in 
which their earthly passions will be discredited and un- 
known, and qualities the very opposite prevail, in which 
spiritual poverty would constitute the greatest wealth. 

Had he delivered no specific instructions concerning the 
genius of his kingdom, we might have inferred its spiritu- 
ality from his conduct alone. Had the policy and pride of 
man been consulted on the means of its erection, they 
would have demanded that splendor should be seen follow- 
ing in his train, and wealth pouring out its treasures at his 
feet, and ambition realizing honors and titles at his hands. 
They would have said, ' If a new system is to be proclaim- 
ed and established in the world, let the profoundest philos- 
ophers of the day be engaged to advocate its merits ; let 
the princes and potentates of the earth be induced to pat- 
ronize it, and take it under their guardian care ; let poetry 
sing its praises ; let eloquence pour forth its most effective 
oratory in its behalf ; let every spring of human power be 
touched and put in motion, and the gospel may gradually 
gain a footing in the world.' And had it been of earthly 
origin and character, such instrumentality might have been 
wise and well. But the spirituality of its nature disdained 
such alliance. The empire of Jesus was intended to be 
the great anomaly of the world ; and its Founder designed 
that its distinctive character should be seen in the ano- 
malous means employed to erect it. ' My kingdom, 5 said 
he, 'is not of this world;' and forthwith he proceeded 
to illustrate the truth, by laying its foundation in his own 
death: by erecting a cross for its centre and glory. 'My 
kingdom is not of this world; it came down complete from 
heaven, and it conducts thither again ; it does not contem- 
plate man specifically in his national, secular, or artificial 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 319 

relations, but in his moral capacity as amenable to the in- 
visible and supreme Governor ; and it proposes to form 
him into a subject, and to acquire his allegiance, by laws 
and influences unknown to the resources of earthly pow- 
ers, and mysterious as the operation of the w T ind, an agen- 
cy derived immediately from heaven. It may impress its 
image on earthly governments with the happiest effect, but 
cannot take from them the slightest print without receiving 
essential injury ; it may leave the constitution of a human 
empire untouched, while it pervades and possesses every 
member of that state, and renders him a new creature. 
So spiritual is its nature, that, like its omnipresent Founder, 
who is always present with his creatures in the same place, 
without destroying any of the attributes proper to their na- 
ture, it is capable of co-existing and co-extending with an 
earthly state, and cf preserving its own separate character, 
without at all interfering with the functions proper to that 
state. 

Unlike the dominions of the kings of the earth, his 
kingdom knows nothing of territorial divisions and geo- 
graphical bounds. ' That which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit,' and belongs to his domains : so much of the man as 
is sanctified, is native to this state, and no more ; and only 
so much of society as is reclaimed to holiness comes with- 
in its spiritual scope and verge. It is a region of light ; and 
to whatever point its beams may reach, ' the kingdom of 
God is come nigh unto it.' It is a dominion of holiness : 
and he who begins to exhibit the signs of repentance, is 
'not far from it,' is approaching its happy confines. The 
lengths and breadths of Immanuel's land are not capable of 
being mapped ; it is a region too etherial to be subjected to 
the lines of latitude and longitude ; it is too commensurate 
with actual faith, and actual holiness, and knows no limits 
but where these terminate. 



320 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

To be the subjects of this kingdom does not depend on 
birth-place or human relationship. Their great distinction 
is, that they are born from above ; ' Jesus answered, Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water 
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, 
That which is born of the flesh, is flesh ; and that which 
is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Marvel not that I said 
unto thee, ye must be born again.' In their natural state 
they are flesh of flesh ; the depraved offspring of depraved 
parents. Their spiritual principle — that which principal- 
ly distinguished them as men, and allied them to God — 
has become a secondary and subordinate part of their na- 
ture. It ought to have reigned, but it has resigned its au- 
thority, dismissed its state, and abdicated its throne. It 
has descended to be a slave, where it ought to have been 
king. The flesh, which should have been only its chariot 
of triumph, leads it, instead, in degrading captivity. In 
this degraded state, it is regarded as having forfeited its 
own name ; it is no longer worthy to be called spirit ; it 
even submits to the dishonor of taking its name from the 
inferior, the fleshly principle. Being immersed in the 
flesh, and owning the flesh for its master, the mind is ani- 
malized, the very mind is turned into flesh, and rendered a 
fleshly mind ; ' that which is born of the flesh, is flesh.' 

Now it is characteristic of all the subjects of the gospel 
kingdom, that this unnatural order of things has been re- 
versed, and their spirit restored to its proper supremacy 
and power. Brought out of the grave which enclosed it, 
and reseated on its native throne, it learns to assert its au- 
thority over the flesh. It is not detached from the body; 
but is enabled to deny the flesh, to hold it in subjection, to 
give it laws, and to exact obedience. It is not exempt 
from the influence of carnal propensities ; but it struggles 
with them ; and herein consists its spirituality. It will no 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. $21 

i longer submit to their rule; it will be master; it will tri- 
umph over the flesh, and make its new-found royalty ap- 
pear in a prevailing spirituality. And having thus recov- 
ered its authority and birth-right, it now again resumes its 
name — it is spirit. The subject of the change, still taking 
his name from his ruling principle, is now denominated 
spiritual, for it is his spirit that reigns ; ' that which is born 
of the Spirit is spirit.' And of this spiritual character 
are all the subjects of the christian kingdom. God has no 
moral kingdom on earth, but what consists of such char- 
acters; for as the extinction of this spirituality by sin, was 
the extinction of a kingdom, so the reproduction of it.by the 
Divine Spirit is the setting up of a new kingdom ; and 
except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot be enrolled 
among its subjects. 

Contrary to the kingdoms of the world, the empire of 
Christ does not find its subjects, but makes them. This is 
its specific and exalted object — the production and perfec- 
tion of spiritual men. Having wandered from the region 
of holiness, they were accounted dead towards God ; des- 
titute of a whole order of life which originally belonged 
to all their faculties, and was diffused through their nature, 
constituting its beauty and perfection. ' I am come,' said 
Christ, 'that they might have life, and that they might 
have it more abundantly.' Being drawn by an unseen 
hand within the circle of the spiritual region, the life they 
had lost is again infused ; and in the exercise of its func- 
tions, they find themselves capable of the duties of their 
new empire, and make proof of their allegiance to their 
new king. Throwing off the yoke of the flesh, they no 
longer allow themselves to be the sport and victim of what- 
ever sin might choose to assail them; but as the Spirit 
hath put forth his power to renew them, so their spirit puts 
forth a corresponding power in earnest endeavors after 

20 



322 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

holiness. Admitted to the presence of their Sovereign Lord, 
they take their directions from his lips, acquire an expan- 
sion and increase of the divine life, until being changed 
into the same image, they are translated to augment and 
adorn his kingdom above. 

The enlargement of an earthly kingdom is commonly 
attended with ' the confused noise of the battle of the war- 
rior, and garments rolled in blood ; ' its boundary lines are 
drawn in blood. But the progress of his empire is like 
the silent stealing of light on darkness. ' If my kingdom 
were of this world,' said he, 'then would my servants 
fight ; but now is my kingdom not from hence.' The only 
panoply he has provided for its militant subjects, is an ar- 
mor of character ; the weapons of their warfare are the 
love that attracts, the patience that endures, and the union 
that gives strength. The victories they achieve are all 
bloodless — the moral conquest of revolted minds. And, 
hence, like the silent fermenting of the hidden leaven, or 
the unobtrusive growth of the mustard seed to a tree, the 
enlargement of his empire is ' not with observation ; ' 
though it is a leaven which is to pervade and assimilate the 
entire mass of humanity, and a tree which is to fill the 
world with its fragrance and its fruits. 

The only domains on which his empire aggresses are 
those of ignorance, sense, and sin ; nor does it make any 
real accession, but as it gradually brings them into subjec- 
tion ; so that to accept the patronage, or to seek the alli- 
ance of the unrenewed, is to suppose that darkness would 
combine with light, to introduce a subject of the prince of 
darkness, and invest him with authority in the dominions of 
the prince of light. The primary object of human gov- 
ernments, is the protection of property, liberty and life; the 
design of the kingdom of Christ may consist with the loss 
of all these, and yet be perfectly answered, for the enemies 
and evils from which it proposes to save, relate to the soul 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 323 

and eternity- Its sovereign himself asserted his royalty 
in the presence of death, and endured the cross as the very 
means of erecting his empire. Qualities which shine 
most resplendent in the kingdoms of the world, have no 
place in his ; and, while accidents of birth and fortune con- 
fer distinction in the former, the latter is an empire in which 

' men take rank according to their piety alone : - whosoever 
shall do and teach the divine commands, the same shall 

1 be called great in the kingdom of heaven.' His is a king- 
dom in which we belong to the higher orders, or the lower, 
according to our character: in which holiness is the only 
true nobility ; in which is wealth, accomplishment, and 
rank, all in one ; and the higher our attainments in right- 
eousness, and the larger our share of his royal favor, the 
more unequivocally are we treated as the children of a 
king. The immunities of his kingdom afford no hope for 
the covetous, no scope for the proud and restless aspirations 
of human ambition ; they consist of self-dominion, sympa- 
thies with heaven, foretastes of perfection, the imperisha- 
ble affluence of the soul, ' spiritual blessings in heavenly 
places.' The laws of his kingdom, unlike the mutable 
and precarious enactments of men, are unalterable ; being 
founded in his own unchangeable nature, and in the eter- 
nal constitution of man ; heaven and earth shall pass away, 
before one of them shall fail. And constituting as they 
do, a divine and perfect code, they admit of no amendment, 
accept of no additions from human legislation. The voice 
of human authority in his empire is the voice of treason, 
a fearful approximation to the example of that ambitious 
spirit whose presumption procured his banishment from 
heaven. The penalties of his kingdom are all spiritual • 
within the wide limits of his peaceful dominions he allows 
no blood to be seen, but that of his own atoning sacrifice ; 
no sword to be wielded, but that weapon of ethereal temper 



324 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the sword of the spirit, whose strokes alight only on the 
conscience, and whose edge is anointed with a balm to 
heal every wound it may inflict. If one of his professed 
subjects offend, the loyal and obedient are only empower- 
ed to rebuke the offender, and to refuse him their society; 
and even of the man who withholds his allegiance, he 
declares, ' I judge him not ' during the present dispen- 
sation, 'for I came not to judge the world, but to 
save it.' 

The court of an earthly state is the rendezvous of its 
pomp, the focus of its splendor; a spectacle which the 
eyes of its people never weary to behold; his court is in- 
visible ; and though he comes to give audience to his peo- 
ple, and to receive their petitions, his presence is unseen, 
the object of their faith. Under the dominion of earthly 
princes, a graduated scale is applied to society, dividing it 
into ranks, and assigning to each its appropriate elevation 
and distinction: under the administration of the gospel 
kingdom, said Christ, it ' shall not be so ; but he that is 
greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that 
is chief as he that doth serve.' * For one is your master 
even Christ, and all ye are brethren.' Under the former, 
society is a cone, the high places of which are occupied by 
those who, in proportion to their elevation, speak with au- 
thority to the circles below them : under the latter, society 
is a plane, on which all artificial distinctions are levelled 
and lost. The rich descending from their elevated station, 
the poor emerging from their obscure retreats, and both de- 
positing their respective badges, they are enrolled in his 
kingdom by one common appellation, enter his presence, 
and encircle his throne, on the same low basement. 
Whatever their distinctions as the subjects of earthly 
princes, as the subjects of his empire, their wants, and ob- 
ligations, and destiny exactly coincide, and place them on 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 325 

a perfect equality : while the only scope they have for em- 
ulation is in a contest of humility, devotedness, and love, a 

I race of holiness ; and to the splendor of holiness, being an 

. order of splendor by itself, no earthly distinction can add 

, a ray of lustre. 

And, to conclude this prolonged particular, I will only 
remark, that, while the subjects of human governments 

. are mortal, and, on laying down their bodies, cease from 
the dominion of earthly power, the subjects of Messiah's 

f kingdom, as such, are immortal ; their departure from 

, earth, being only a removal to a higher department of his 
empire, where their allegiance is undivided, and rendered 
to him alone, and where their spiritual relations to him 
are all verified and complete ; ' Where I am,' saith he, 

, * there shall also my servants be.' ' I appoint unto you a king- 
dom.' And while, not only the subjects of earthly states, 
but the kingdoms themselves, dissolve and disappear, his 
spiritual empire shall rise on the ruins of them all : hav- 
ing combined with none of their perishable elements, it 
shall know no change, but that of a perpetual advance 
from glory to glory ; and the moment which shall behold 
the dissolution of the great globe itself, shall behold his 
kingdom crowned with perfection, and completed for eter- 
nity. 

Let the spirituality of the Savior's teaching, on the 
great subjects which have passed under consideration, re- 
mind us of our proneness and danger to repose in a form 
of piety to the neglect of spiritual and evangelical holiness. 
Created under a law which promised us life on the condi- 
tion of our perfect obedience, we still retain a propensity to 
claim the reward, though morally unable to perform the 
condition. To evade the conviction of this inability, and 
to maintain unimpaired our pretensions to heaven, we 
fondly substitute an obedience of forms for the homage and 



326 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

piety of the heart. Besides, owing to the ascendency 
which our senses have gained over our minds, it is so 
much more easy and gratifying to be able to see and re- 
count our religious doings, than to attend to the secret du- 
ties of the heart, that we would fain lose sight of the spirit- 
ual nature of religion, in an engrossing attention to its out- 
ward forms. 

On these accounts it is that a system of superstition, 
however torturing the rites it may inflict on its votaries, is 
able to boast a more imposing array of devotees, than the 
spiritual religion of the gospel of Christ. It is so much 
more easy to endure bodily torture, than to bend the will 
and impose mental discipline ; there is so much in the idea 
of personal merit to sustain the endurance of physical suf- 
fering, and so much food for complacency afterwards in the 
review, that Christianity has only to proclaim its acceptance 
of tortures and penances in the stead of spiritual efforts, 
in order to enrol among its followers multitudes who now 
stand aloof in aversion and despair. 

Owing to the operation of the same principles it was 
that the higher and ultimate designs of the Jewish econo- 
my became neutralized and lost. Burdened as that dis- 
pensation was with ceremonial observances, it was yet 
highly significant of all that is spiritual and essential in 
the present economy. But the Jews, while they scrupu- 
lously honored the signs, entirely lost sight of the thing 
signified. They paid tithes of anise, mint, and cummin ; 
they offered their animal sacrifices; they were even will- 
ing to multiply their ritual observances a hundred-fold, pro- 
vided, that by doing so, they might be spared the irksome 
task of reflecting, of sustaining a mental effort which 
should enable them to ' look to the end of that w r hich w T as 
to be abolished ; ' this was a duty so much more difficult 
than to discharge a routine of outward ceremonies, that 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 327 

they utterly dismissed it. In their carnal hands, the trans- 
parent type became opaque and useless, their speaking and 
instructive service became an unmeaning enigma, a dumb 
and tiresome show; and even the glorious temple itself, 
meant to be the shrine and sanctuary of living piety, be- 
came its sepulchre ; the mighty mausoleum of a departed 
religion, in which all that remained to interest, was the 
constant celebration of its funeral rites. 

Judea, having proved the grave of religion, became also 
the scene of its resurrection to a loftier order of life, and. 
clothed in a more spiritual body. Christianity, as com- 
pared with religion in its Jewish state, is ' corruption cloth- 
ed in incorruption.' And now, we might have supposed, 
religion is safe from its former fate ; its spirituality will 
now form its protection ; and, in addition, it will be guard- 
ed by the jealousy of devout admiration ; but, instead of 
this, the very first danger to which it was exposed was that 
of being divested of its distinctive character, and of being 
reduced to an affair of forms and ceremonies. Many of 
its primitive disciples had been born in the shadow of the 
holy place; had inhaled the incense of the altar with their 
earliest breath ; and had daily walked amidst the solemn 
and gorgeous magnificence of an economy modelled after 
the pattern of heavenly things, and adorned by the hand of 
Deity himself. Proud to be allied to such a church, they 
had derived their distinctive name from its initiatory rite, 
and gloried to be denominated 'the circumcision.' The 
loftiest conceptions of excellence and distinction, of per- 
sonal security and future enjoyment, had long been iden- 
tified in their minds with ' the circumcision.' And hence, 
though the superior character of the christian economy 
had long since carried their convictions, and won their es- 
teem, yet true to their early prepossessions, they essayed 
to insert it as a graft into the Jewish stock, as the infallible 



328 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

means of enhancing the value of its fruits. So far from 
entertaining the idea, that the christain institute was design- 
ed to supplant the Mosaic, they insisted that its saving effi- 
cacy depended entirely on its being incorporated with it ; 
that whatever good of a subordinate kind it might impart 
to others, its ultimate blessings would only accrue to 'the 
circumcision.' And accordingly the apostles had early to 
interpose their authority, individually and collectively, in 
order to save the new dispensation from being overlaid and 
destroyed by a favorite and corrupted ritual. 

The propensity in question however is by no means pe- 
culiar to the Jews, whether regarded as professors of Ju- 
daism or of Christianity ; it is one to which our common 
nature is prone. What is it that passes throughout Chris- 
tendom generally for the religion of Christ? what but an 
elaborate accumulation of penances and mortifications, of 
splendid sights and melodious sounds, of fasts and festivals, 
a constantly recurring round of outward observances 1 As 
though conscious of its want of a spiritual life, they have 
vainly attemped to find compensation in a constant multi- 
plication of heartless ceremonies : as if aware that they had 
no more of religion than the lifeless form, they have en- 
deavored to conceal its death-like features by overlaying it 
with a profusion of costly decorations. 

Nor does this propensity confine its pernicious opera- 
tions to the sphere of our duties alone — of what we have 
to do ; but invading the region of christian expectation and 
privilege, how generally has it debased the notions of men 
concerning the nature of that salvation which God propos- 
es to accomplish for them. By salvation, they understand 
a mere outward deliverance — the bestowment of pardon 
alone — without remembering that to be pardoned, in the 
scriptural sense, is at the same time to be renewed in the 
spirit of their mind ; in the very soul of their soul. They 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 329 

profess to be infinitely indebted to Christ, supposing him to 
have accomplished every thing for them in such a sense, 
that now they have only to give their consent, in order to 
be taken to heaven ; not remembering that, before he can 
be said to have done any thing for them personally, he must 
actually commence a renovating process within them. They 
estimate their deliverance from hell, as from a place of out- 
ward torment ; forgetting that sin has created a hell with- 
in them ; that an angry and polluted conscience is a worm 
which dieth not ; that unsubdued propensities to sin are 
fires which, if now left unquenched, will continue to burn 
on for ever ; that dying in habits of vice we shall take them 
with us as chains of our own forging and imposing, and 
wear them for ever; and that unless they are delivered from 
these evils now by the renewing agency of the Divine 
Spirit, heaven itself, were they permitted to enter it, would 
be no scene of joy to them, since every thing there would 
be at variance with their taste, and painfully opposed to 
their character. And in the same way they are accustom- 
ed to anticipate heaven as a spectacle of splendor, and the 
scene of every refined pleasure which can charm the 
senses ; as the elysium in which they are to find happiness 
prepared and awaiting their arrival, whatever the state in 
which they may reach it. They entirely lose sight of the 
fact, that their present character is creating their future 
destiny ; that their principles and actions, preceding their 
own departure, have already arrived in eternity, and are 
there preparing for them a place of reception. They for- 
get, that on departing from earth, that which goes to be ex- 
amined at the bar of God, is the unclothed soul, the naked 
human character, and that the inevitable test to which it is 
there subjected is, whether or not it has been formed and 
sanctified by the Spirit of God. They are blind to the im- 
portant truth, that the happiness of heaven will principally 



330 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

result from holiness and conformity to God : that so far 
heaven commences with the christian on earth ; and that, 
when he leaves the world, he takes the elements of heav- 
enly happiness with him ; so that it is only by becoming 
a subject of the kingdom of holiness now, that he can enter 
into the kingdom of happiness hereafter. 

The principle which leads men to substitute external 
things for the religion of Christ, is of universal operation: 
we have seen that it has entered each dispensation, and ap- 
peared in every age of the church, obscuring the glory, 
and corroding the very vitals of piety. In the war it has 
waged with the spirituality of religion, it has succeeded in 
materializing and debasing it to a degree which has left 
nothing for the most secular and devoted worldling to hope 
or desire. It has so consulted his tastes and provided for 
his wishes, that he can easily serve both God and mam- 
mon ; an achievement which was once pronounced imprac- 
ticable ; for while it leaves the heart at liberty for the re- 
ception of any guests, it provides that religion shall be sat- 
isfied with the attentions of form. It has subverted the 
whole constitution of Messiah's kingdom ; for while it has 
dethroned him from his seat in the heart ; and has turned 
his laws into prescriptions of empty forms ; and the hom- 
age which is paid him, into an affair of heartless ceremo- 
ny, of feudal custom ; it has left him to sway an impotent 
sceptre over a kingdom of mere nominal subjects. By 
anticipation, it has even carried its deteriorating influence 
into the regions of futurity, invaded the upper province of 
his dominions, materializing the happiness of heaven itself. 
Oh, what would that kingdom, of which Christ is the au- 
thor and glory, have become, had it been left to be moulded 
by the hands of man ! It would have been made to consist 
• of meats and drinks ; ' an assemblage of outward observ- 
ances, and those of the most trivial description ; whereas 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 331 

it is composed of ' righteousness and peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost.' 

Thus man debases whatever he touches ; even the spir- 
ituality of the gospel could not escape the contamination. 
But from this humbling survey of the treatment which 
Christianity has received at his hands, let me advert, in 
conclusion, to the divine simplicity of the character which 
it is intended to form ; and advert to it with a view to en- 
force its necessity. 

The great gift of the new dispensation, the promise most 
frequently on the lips of Christ, and which he evidently 
gloried to repeat, is the promise of the Holy Spirit. The 
fulfillment of this promise, which is alike essential to the 
first and the last step of the christian life, infallibly trans- 
forms its recipients into spiritual worshippers. They speak 
to God through no indirect or doubtful medium ; they ap- 
proach him by no lengthened process of preliminary forms; 
through the new and living way, it is their privilege to 
advance to his footstool personally and at once. They ad- 
dress him with their own lips, and believe that he is listen- 
ing to every word they utter. They bare their hearts to 
his inspection, and entreat him to penetrate and pervade 
them with his grace. Conscience, faithful to its trust, pre- 
sents the record of its secrets to his eye ; and, in the sove- 
reign smile which approves its fidelity, feels re-confirmed 
in its office, and swears allegiance anew. Their thoughts 
are busy with the scheme of redemption ; and as wonder 
after wonder rises on their view, they find themselves at- 
tracted nearer and nearer to the object of their worship. 
Their affections, expanding to admit his presence, invite 
him to enter and ascend the throne. Every part of their 
spiritual nature is employed ; going forth towards him in 
appropriate acts and emotions, or passively waiting to own 
the first and gentlest impulses of his hand. Hypocrisy is a 



332 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

mask which they wear not before men ; before God, be- 
sides its inefficiency, of which they are perfectly aware, it 
would defeat the purpose dearest to their hearts. They 
would have every word they utter in the ear of God, issue 
as from the centre of their being. Whatever, while in his 
presence, diverts their thoughts, or induces them to express 
an unfelt desire, incurs their displeasure, and excites their 
regret. Not to hold fellowship with him, not to feel that 
their spiritual nature has come in contact with his, is to ex- 
perience a disappointment for which no external rites, how- 
ever numerous, splendid, or venerable, can compensate ; a 
disappointment like that which we may suppose the high 
priest would have felt, had he passed into the holiest of all 
and found the glory departed, the ark, the mercy-seat, and 
the cherubim gone. 

' The Father seeketh such to worship him.' He has 
sought them under every dispensation of religion ; but, un- 
der the present economy, he has a right to expect that his 
search will be peculiarly successful. The declaration, in- 
deed, denotes their comparative rareness ; and reminds us 
of the value which God sets on them. The formal and 
insincere universally abound ; but such he disregards; they 
are an abomination in his sight. But wherever a spiritual 
worshipper is to be found, there is an object which attracts 
the divine regard. He entertains the lofty design of trans- 
lating all his spiritual worshippers to the temple above. 

Finally, let those of my readers who belong to the dis- 
ciples of Jesus, be ambitious to exemplify the spiritual na- 
ture and dignity of their ch ristian vocation. Delivered from 
the shadows and ceremonies of the law, you are placed 
in a situation pre-eminently favorable to increased spiritual- 
ity of mind. Disciples of a school in which all human 
authority is abjured ; in which every lesson that is taught 
is ' spirit and life ; ' and in which no limits are placed to 



HIS SPIRITUALITY. 333 

the discoveries made by the Great Teacher, you are expec- 
ted to build up a character eminent for the distinctness of 
its heavenly features, to become proficients in the art of 
spiritual-mindedness. Yours is not merely the character 
of the ancient believer, changed in nothing but in name ; 
it is the elements of which that character is composed, 
brought from the dimness and distance of a twilight dis- 
pensation into the radiance of the divine presence, baptized 
with the Spirit of Christ, sustained with a purer aliment, 
and thus developed, expanded, and matured. Looking at 
the superiority of your spiritual knowledge, the freedom 
of your access to God, and the fullness of heavenly influ- 
ence put within your reach, the gospel may be said to have 
placed you midway between the Jewish economy and the 
celestial state. Or, as if it had placed you in effect even 
nearer than this to the privileges of heaven, you are repre- 
sented as having come to mount Zion, and unto the city of 
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Raised into this 
ethereal region, your views are not to be bounded by the 
sensible horizon of time ; urge and erect your souls to 
take a larger survey ; expatiate over the ample fields of 
revelation ; let your eyes range from everlasting to ever- 
lasting ; you will thus become conversant with objects in 
whose radiance this world will stand eclipsed, and famil- 
iar with scenes and plans compared with which all earth 
is only a point, all time a moment, all human knowledge 
an imperfect idea. -v 

If the mind takes its character from the objects which it 
most contemplates, then yours should be a transcript of all 
that is great, and pure, and spiritual. You are born spirit 
of Spirit: you have the mind of Christ; he takes you in- 
to daily and familiar converse with himself on the subject 
of eternal purposes and infinite grace, that he may so trans- 
fer to you his own likeness, and send you forth into the 



334 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

I world as his spiritual representatives. Your spirituality- 
is, in his eyes, your only glory ; it is the only mark by 
which he distinguishes you from the world, the only part 
of your nature which he owns as his offspring ; you can- 
not therefore open your souls to the ingress of the world, 
or leave them unfortified against its influence, without con- 
senting to lose your great distinction, and being guilty of 
treason against the King of souls. 

In effacing from your minds the image of the earthly, his 
design is to impress on them the image of the heavenly; 
that you may show forth his likeness, and circulate his 
praise in the world. If he admits you to stand in the light 
of his presence, it is not that you may absorb and conceal 
it; but that, as prepared mediums, you may transmit the 
glory of his throne to others. He has made you the sub- 
jects of a kingdom which disdains the boundaries of time 
and place, that your benevolence may know no limits. In 
approaching his altar as his royal priesthood, you are to 
speak as intercessors for the race; in offering thanksgiving, 
you are to be the organ and voice of the gratitude due to 
him from the world. And having enrolled yourselves as 
his subjects and servants, you are to apply your hand to 
the vast machinery of his providence, and to mingle with 
the operations of his almighty love, in restoring to harmo- 
ny the disorders of the universe. He has given to you 
his own Spirit, that even here you may become naturalized 
to a spiritual element, and be changed into it : and that 
when you are called to join the great community of spirits, 
where the body itself is to be sublimated into spirit, you 
may not be found wanting in any heavenly function, but 
may enter on it as on the enjoyment of your native state. 



ESSAY IV. 

ON THE TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE OF OUR 
LORD'S TEACHING. 



' Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto 

your souls,' 
'And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded 

out of his mouth.' 



In perusing the writings of many a moral instructor, the 
only abatement from our edification arises from the unwel- 
come recollection of his character. His statements of 
truth are forcible, his illustrations clear, his appeals af- 
fecting ; but the remembrance of the contradiction which 
existed between his doctrine and life returns, the spell by 
which he held us is dissolved, a shadow falls on the page, 
and his most arrowy appeals drop pointless and short of 
our hearts. But in listening to the instructions of our 
blessed Lord, the recollection of his character is not mere- 
ly welcome, in order to do them justice, it is essential. 
There have been others, indeed, who have owed the suc- 
cess of their teaching partly to their moral excellencies; 
but such is the excellence oi his character that, could we 
only bring to the perusal of his instructions a vivid con- 
ception of it, we should no longer have to deplore their in- 
efficacy ; could we only come unto them under the full in- 
fluence of that idea, nothing could long resist their power : 
as often as we returned to them, they would receive so 
strong a reinforcement of impression from that association 
that they could not fail to pass farther and farther into the 
mind, making for themselves a home in the heart, chang- 
ing the soul into their own form and quality, and thus ver- 



336 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ifying his own description of them, that * they are spirit, 
and they are life.' 

His original hearers, be it remembered, enjoyed this ad- 
vantage: whether or not they availed themselves of it is 
a distinct consideration ; they often enjoyed the privilege 
of beholding his miracles of mercy : and, instantly on 
the same spot, they listened to the gracious words which 
proceeded out of his mouth ; while yet they were under 
the arrest of some new display of majesty, his doctrine 
dropped as the rain, his speech distilled as the dew. It 
will not be irrelevant then, if, to place ourselves as nearly as 
possible in their position, we briefly advert to the excellen- 
cies of our Lord's character ; especially to those which re- 
late to the particular qualities of his teaching, now under 
consideration. We shall then point out some of his corres- 
ponding characteristics as a teacher; and, finally, present 
examples from his teaching illustrative of his tenderness, 
benignity and compassion. 

I. In attempting to pourtray the moral perfection of 
Christ, we feel that we are contemplating one who is fair- 
er than the children of men ; standing in the presence 
of Him who is altogether lovely. O for the pen of that dis- 
ciple whom Jesus loved ; who selected his Lord's humility 
and love as things most congenial with his own taste ; and 
leant on his sacred bosom till he became imbued with the 
heavenly love which dwelt there ! O for the aid of the Ho- 
ly Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, to unveil his excellencies to 
our view ; that, while we are beholding, we may be chang- 
ed into the same image ; may have oar taste purified and 
exalted into sympathy with his transcendant character! 
Of the early history of Christ, indeed, we have but two or 
three slight incidental notices ; but who can read even 
these notices, slender as they are, in the light of his after- 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 337 

r life, without finding- in them a warrant for the imagination 
to indulge itself with a picture of his early perfection. If his 
youth and his early manhood corresponded with his sub- 
[ sequent life, how cloudless and blessed must have been the 
i morning of such a day, and how happy they who stood 
i in its light. Unlike the virtues of ordinary humanity, 
i which are grafted, and stunted, and hardly preserved with 
: incessant care, his nature contained in itself the seeds of 
! all worth, and every seed became a fruit; every hour be- 
; held him put forth some additional bud of promise. Like 
the earth when first it was sown by the hand of God, and 
held in its bosom the germs of a universal paradise, his na- 
ture brought with it all the elements of excellence. Good- 
ness rejoiced in it as in its native soil. His life was as the 
garden of the Lord ; for there grew in it every thing plea- 
sant to the sight and good for food : obedience, which ran 
at the first call of duty ; prudence! rendering the present 
subservient to the future ; sensibility, responding to the 
softest tones of nature, and the clear transparency of truth : 
and native courtesy and love, that clasped every thing love- 
ly to its soul, and became one with it. What wonder was 
it that, thus adorned and distinguished, he should have ' in- 
creased in favor with God and man,' have become the fa- 
vorite of heaven and earth. Had the first probation been 
to be made again, one individual tried as the representative 
of all the race, and heaven proposed as the prize of suc- 
cess, who would not have thought of him ? all eyes would 
have involuntarily turned to him, all hearts would have 
confided the great probation to his hands, and have looked 
on heaven as secure. 

Emerging, at length, from the obscurity of his early life, 

' he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up : 

and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the 

sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was de- 

21 



O'J 



8 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



livered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And, 
when he had opened the book, he found the place where it 
is written, ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath 
sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to 
the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year 
of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again 
to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them 
that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And 
he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture ful- 
filled in your ears.' Such, then, in his own estimation, 
was the nature of his divine commission ; and he fulfilled it. 
His whole life was a comment on this text. 

If our subject permitted, we should love to linger on 
the purity of his character ; for this, though by no means 
the most attractive feature to a sinful race, is one of the 
most remarkable. And here be it observed, he sought 
not to preserve his holiness unspotted, by avoiding contact 
with the world : he was not indebted for his purity to the 
privacy of a recluse. From the moment he became a pub- 
lic character, his field was the world ; he domesticated 
himself, if 1 may say so, and desired to be numbered as 
one of the human family ; he sought to become the heart 
of the world ; and, in the prosecution of that object, he 
turned not aside from a personal encounter with the Tempt- 
er himself. From every thing which the world contain- 
ed of great and good, his nature selected and drew to it- 
self aliment and life, while it rejected all the pernicious 
ingredients with which the purest elements on earth are 
defiled. 

He passed through a scene in which, at every step he 
took, a thousand malignant influences were waiting to dart 
on him, ' Yet he did no sin, neither was guile found in his 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 339 

mouth.' He uttered not a single sentence capable of be- 
ing construed into a confession of guilt, or a consciousness 
of defilement. He often alluded to his poverty, rejection, 
and sufferings ; and oftener still to the subject of sin, in a 
variety of forms ; but he breathed not a word which could 
be construed into an intimation that he considered himself 
less than a being of unsullied purity. On the contrary, he 
challenged his enemies (and he had but few friends) to con- 
vict him of a single sin. The prince of this world came, 
and found nothing in him ; no single thought or feeling 
which responded to temptation, or disposed him for a mo- 
ment to yield to it. He lived for years, and was actively 
employed in a world in which every condition has its pe- 
culiar temptations, so that of all the myriads who have ever 
inhabited it, not one has escaped the pollution of sin. But, 
like the sunbeam, which remains uncontaminated whatever 
the object on which it may shine, the Savior emerged from 
this region of guilt, and re-entered the portals of heaven, 
as pure and unspotted as when he left the bosom of the 
Father. It was strictly true of him to the latest moment 
of his continuance on earth ; with perfect sincerity it might 
have been inscribed on his tomb; it might have been 
shouted with triumph as he ascended to the throne of heav- 
en, ' he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with 
out sin.' 

Besides his purity, we might specify, not merely his su- 
periority to the age in which he lived, but the absolute con- 
trariety of his character to all existing and surrounding 
influences ; the universality of his plans, which distinguish- 
ed and left him alone in the earth : the reconciliation and 
union in his character of opposite excellencies, and which 
formed its perfection and finish. But that which sheds a 
prevailing hue over the whole character of Christ, and 
forms its principle feature, is unquestionably, benevolence. 



340 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

It is that transcendental attribute, which ran through all 
the rest, adapting, baptizing, and turning the whole into 
grace. What but this could have induced his purity to 
tabernacle in the midst of sin 1 it was by no means an in- 
different act to him ; ' he suffered, being tempted,' suffered 
in proportion to the perfection of his holiness, and the 
depth of his aversion to sin ; but though his residence in 
an atmosphere of sin was revolting to his purity, though 
the presence of depravity made his continuance here a per- 
petual sacrifice, his love induced him to submit, induced 
him so intimately to associate with the ungodly, that one of 
his characteristic names became, ' the friend of publicans 
and sinners.' 

We have said that his character was not only superior 
to all existing and surrounding influences, but quite dis- 
tinct from them. Others are more or less affected by the 
circumstances in which they are brought up ; however 
superior to external influences they may appear, they can- 
not escape entirely the spirit of the age : they hold com- 
munion, and enjoy sympathy, with those around them. 
But the character Of Christ had nothing in it local, tem- 
porary, or common. It appeared in the world entire, inde- 
pendent, and unique. It was formed for a world which 
had lost the original pattern of goodness, and had sunk 
into a state of universal selfishness ; the whole of his his- 
tory therefore is a history of the sacrifice of selfish feel- 
ings; his life was calculated and constructed on the prin- 
ciple of a laborious endeavorer to imbue the world with 
the lost spirit of benevolence, to baptize it afresh in the ele- 
ment of love. 

The universality of his plans, which left him without 
any contemporaneous sympathy, must also be resolved into 
the same principle. He loved man as man, he came to be 
the light and life of the world. His benevolence could not 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 341 

endure the thought of a single human being perishing; his 
heart had room for the whole race; and he could not be 
satisfied with less than a universal offer of mercy. 

And benevolence is the principle which harmonized in 
him the most contrasted qualities. In his mysterious per- 
son it had brought into union time and eternity, heaven 
and earth ; and in his character it blended majesty such as 
God before had never displayed, with meekness such as 
man before had never shown. Dignity, in him, was not 
terror, for he clothed it with a condescension which had 
before been thought inconsistent with greatness. Tem- 
perance and self-denial, with him, were not darkened with 
austerity, but came softened and recommended by gentleness 
and suavity. In him were united an indignant sensibility 
to sin, with weeping compassion for the sinner ; the splen- 
dors of more than an angelic nature, with the humility of 
a little child; a resolved perseverance in the path of duty 
which no array of dangers could deter, with a heart so 
attuned to compassion that the faintest appeal of misery 
arrested his progress as with the power of omnipotence, 
and made him stand still. While he seemed to do every 
thing for the future, he yet neglected nothing proper to 
the present ; while he held himself ready to embrace the 
mightiest plans, and evinced a consciousness that he stood 
related to the whole species, he yet stooped, without tri- 
fling, to the smallest circumstance. Like the Almighty 
Father, sustaining the worlds, yet stooping to succor the 
falling bird ; he one moment conversed with celestial vis- 
itants, and the next he listened to the lispings of infant 
praise, or meekly bore the obtuseness of his disciples. 
He, who received the homage of angels, and had all their 
legions at command, sees wealth in the tribute of a sinful 
woman's tears, and finds the sweetest music in the dying 
thanks of the guilty malefactor. Having driven demons 



342 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

from his presence with an awful rebuke, he takes up little 
children to his heart ; and they feel in his looks the secu- 
rity of home, and in his tones an assurance of love which 
makes them reluctant to leave his arms, even for the wel- 
come of a mother's bosom. Having pourtrayed the judg- 
ment of the last day, and clothed himself with thunder as 
the central object of the awful scene, he follows the first 
beck of misery, or turns aside to weep over the hardness 
of human hearts. Having proclaimed himself * the resur- 
rection and the life ; ' how easily does he descend from his 
dignity to mingle his tears with the bereaved mourners ! 
Universal philanthropy did not impair his sensibility to the 
pleasures of private friendships and domestic intercourse ; 
nor did the momentous interests, which pressed on his soul 
in the crisis of the world's redemption, prevent him from 
thinking of his filial relation, and tenderly providing for 
a mother's comfort. Never was there a character at the 
same time so magnificent and unlabored ; so conscious of 
greatness, and so unostentatiously simple ; so full of inspi- 
ration to the good, and so free from terror ; so replete with 
encouragement to the outcast penitent. In his character 
met the whole constellation of the virtues, each one made 
brighter by contrast : but one overpowering sentiment 
softened and subjected them all to itself; one all-pervading 
law gave unity and harmony to his most opposite actions ; 
interpreting all his words and looks ; preventing him, even 
in the most critical situations, from being at variance with 
himself, or falling below his professed object — and "that 
sentiment, that law, was love. 

In the history of his miracles, we see almighty power 
itself consenting to be led by love, and consecrated to its 
service. Had he only intended to produce impressions of 
'his majesty, or prove the divinity of his mission, he might 
perhaps have accomplished this sooner by appealing to 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 343 

our fears in miracles of terror and destruction. But the 
object he aimed at, and the truths he taught, were both of 
a benevolent nature ; and the miracles he performed in con- 
firmation of those truths partook of the same character. 
He refused but one application to his miraculous power; 
when his disciples rashly desired that fire might descend 
from heaven on their enemies ; but he reminded them that 
he came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' On 
the night of his apprehension, he touched the wound of an 
enemy and healed it ; for with him, power and kindness 
were the same thing. Wherever he came, disease and 
suffering fled from his presence. His path might be traced 
from place to place in lines of life, and health, and joy. 
Where he was expected, the public way was thronged with 
forms of helplessness, disease, and woe. Where he had 
passed, the restored might be seen, making trial of their 
new-found powers ; listeners, formed into groups to hear 
the tale of healing; and the delighted objects of his com- 
passion, rehearsing, with earnestness, what had passed, 
imitating his tones, and even trying to convey an idea of 
his condescending ways. His voice was the first sound 
which many of them heard ; his name the first word they 
had pronounced ; his blessed form the first sight they had 
ever beheld. And often, at the close of a laborious day, 
when his wearied frame required repose, the children of 
affliction besieged his retreat, and implored his help. And 
did they ever seek in vain ! Wearied and worn as he was, 
* he pleased not himself;' he went forth, and patiently lis- 
tened to all their tales of woe, tasted their several com- 
plaints, raised each suppliant from the dust, nor left them 
till he had absorbed their sufferings, and healed them all. 
He went through the land like a current of vital air, an 
element of life, diffusing health and joy wherever he ap- 
peared. Had the spiritual object of his advent permitted 



344 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the continuance of his abode on earth, he would have be- 
come the shrine at which all disease would have knelt, the 
centre to which all suffering would have tended as by a 
law ; to him the world of the afflicted would have gone as 
on pilgrimage; and would it not then have been equally 
true, that ' he healed them all ? ' 

Jesus of Nazareth ! who can declare thee ! thou wast 
the heart of infinite love, beating and bleeding for human 
happiness ! How didst thou consult our wants, and adapt 
thyself to our condition ! Among the ignorant, thou wast 
the light of life ; when surrounded by the needy, thou wast 
the fullness of the Godhead. When didst thou disregard 
the cry of suppliant misery 1 thy daily path, like the ra- 
diance left by one of the splendors of the firmament in its 
midnight path, was marked with simple but sublime glory ; 
for, with thee, the close of one act of beneficence was the 
commencement of another ; thou didst dispense thy bless- 
ings so profusely, as if thou hadst forgotten that thou wert 
a man upon earth, didst think thyself still on thy throne. 
Why did sorrow come to thee to have its tears wiped 
away ! and conscious guilt fall at thy feet with an uplifted 
eye of hope ! why did unsheltered weakness run, as by 
instinct, to take sanctuary in thy presence ! and penitence 
lay bare its wounds to catch the balm that fell from thy 
lip3 ! blessed Jesus, thou hadst a balm for every wound. 

Thou hadst come to seek companionship with sorrow ; 
yet didst thou not frown upon the social amenities of life, 
but didst affably partake of them. Every action of thine 
was inlaid with grace : even aversion, with thee, was not 
hatred, but only sorrow heightened into concern. Thy 
mercy was not proud and imperial in its blessings ; thou 
didst condescend and love to be thanked ; and, O, if grat- 
itude melted into penitence, thou didst proclaim a jubilee 
in heaven, and invite the universe to share in thy joy. 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 345 

And why wast thou thus benignant? It was not because 
a thou hadst been surprised into a career of mercy, and 
i couldst not draw back : for thou hadst looked into the 
i darkest recesses of depravity in the human heart, and 
1 sounded the lowest depths of human misery, before thou 
earnest to expiate and relieve : it was not that, as man often 
: will, thou didst compromise with sin, or indulge compas- 
sion at the expense of truth ; for thou wast a martyr to 
fidelity, and a sacrifice for sin: nor was it that thy charac- 
ter was all yielding and undistinguishing softness ! for 
while thou wast as an altar at which the lowest could 
kneel, like an altar also thou didst check the profane look, 
and command veneration from the passer by : nor was it 
that the world caressed thee ; thy injuries might have 
taught patience itself to blaspheme ; yet didst thou remain 
meek and lowly in heart, and persist in turning the tears 
of the world into smiles. 

Jesus of Nazareth ! who can declare thee ! In thee 
wisdom and goodness were in conjunction with holiness 
and power. All who treated with thee tasted of goodness, 
of divinity ; thine actions, if distributed over the course of 
time, might have formed its eras ; thy virtues were dow- 
ries sufficient to enrich a world ; thy character was glory 
set in grace. 

II. With this impression of our Lord's benignity, let us, 
secondly, proceed to some of the circumstances which 
evince his benevolence as a Teacher. 

And here we may as well, at once, dispose of an objec- 
tion ; and it is I believe, the only shadow of an objection 
which can be found in the whole compass of the evangeli- 
cal narrative, to the tenderness of Christ, in the capacity of 
a Teacher ; arising fromthe reason he assigns for speaking 
in parables. On one occasion, ' the disciples came, and 



346 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables 1 
He answered, and said unto them, Because unto you 
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heav- 
en, but to them it is not given ; therefore speak I 

unto them in parables : because they seeing, see not ; and 
hearing, they hear not ; neither do they understand. And 
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, 
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand , and 
seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive : for this peo- 
ple's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hear- 
ing, and their eyes have they closed ; lest at any time 
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, 
and should understand with their heart, and should be con- 
verted, and I should heal them.' From this reply, many 
have inferred that our Lord addressed the Jews on that oc- 
casion in parables, that they might not understand : an in- 
ference which was probably suggested by the apparent se- 
verity of the quotation from the prophet. But let us only 
remember the canon — that it is common for God to speak 
by his prophets, of events that would happen, in a manner 
as if he had enjoined them — and all appearance of severity 
will vanish. 

That the employment of parables was not meant, by 
Christ, as an act of judicial severity, is evident from the 
following considerations: First, it was an ordinary and 
prevailing mode of instruction. Secondly, the question 

with which he prefaced his parables, ' Whereunto shall we 
liken the kingdom of God ? ' evinced a gracious anxiety 
to make himself understood by selecting similitudes adapt- 
ed to their capacity. Thirdly, there is every reason to 
conclude that, had they gone to him afterwards for an ex- 
position of the parables, he would have shewn delight at 
the application, and have promptly met their inquiries. 
Fourthly, he continued the parabolic strain to his disci- 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 347 

i pies after the multitude had retired ; a proof that he had 
i not adopted that strain in anger. Fifthly, he frequently 
• spoke in parables at other times, when his only object was 
] evidently to allure and instruct. Sixthly, the contrary 
f supposition is at variance with all we know of his benevo- 
I lent character. The motive of our Lord for speaking in 
parables on this occasion, was no doubt to avoid the mal- 
ice cf his enemies ; for his subject, which related to the 
progress of his kingdom, would call forth all the ingenui- 
ty and activity of that malice. And hence the reason he 
assigns for adopting this mode is, that their wickedness 
had disqualified them for listening to more explicit teaching, 
and deprived them of it. His speaking to them by para- 
bles, then, so far from being an act of judicial severity, was 
a device of kindness, the recourse of compassion. They 
could not look on the open face of truth, and he veiled it. 
Their morbid sensibility and malice left him no alterna- 
tive, but to be indirect on this particular subject, or entire- 
ly silent. Displeasure would have chosen the latter, but 
compassion adopted the former. Rather than be quite si- 
lent, he addressed them by parable ; for to have taken the 
truth out of this casket, would have been casting pearls be- 
fore swine. It is true, that in its effect it operated as a 
judgment, for they disregarded its meaning ; but we are 
not, on that account, to disparage his grace, any more than 
we impeach the conduct of the sower, some of whose seed, 
fell where it took no root. Life itself is a parable, a course 
of instruction by events; each of which, if rightly con- 
strued, is found to contain a useful lesson ; but neglected, 
it leaves us in ignorance and aggravated guilt ; and yet 
who does not see that it is a mode of instruction consistent 
with kindness, and even dictated by love ? We might 
therefore, without refining, place the conduct of Christ 

on this occasion, among the illustrations of his benevo- 
lence as a Teacher. 



348 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

But other and superior illustrations demand our atten- 
tion. Had the object of Jesus been merely to leave in our 
possession a revelation of the will of God, he would have 
dispensed with that tender solicitude which marked his 
conduct, and have confined himself exclusively to the de- 
sign of his mission. But he came to enlighten, only that 
he might save; and, like a wise and kind instructor, he 
clothed himself in love that he might gain for his instruc- 
tions a place in our heart. To this end it was that he 
chose to move in the humbler walks of life. Every con- 
dition of society was open to his choice, and human taste 
would have selected a state of wealth, and rank, and world- 
ly influence ; but this would have removed him from the 
society of the people ; whereas his object was to make 
himself one with them. He selected others to assist him 
in preaching the kingdom of heaven ; but he asked not 
philosophy to argue in its defence, or poetry to sing its 
praise, or eloquence to pour forth its oratory, or royalty to 
clothe it with state, or arm it with power. The instrumen- 
tality he employed was of the humblest order ; was, like 
himself, ' raised up from among the people,' and therefore 
adapted to gain the attention of the people. 

He regarded himself as specially 'anointed to preach 
the gospel to the poor.' Had human right been consulted 
on the subject, it would fain have had splendor follow in 
his train, and wealth pour out its treasures before him, and 
ambition receive titles and honors at his hands. It would 
have had his gospel patronized by the great and mighty 
of the earth ; and then it would have mingled among 
them, and enrolled its name among his followers. But 
the great distinction of his ministry, and the fact in which 
he gloried, was, that the 'poor had the gospel preached to 
them. This was a stretch of philanthropy unknown to 
the philosophers of Greece and Rome. The transcendant 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 349 

idea of propagating a universal religion — a system which 
i should include the multitudes who throng the highways 
• and thoroughfares of life, which should convert religion 
i into daily bread for the poor — was reserved for him who 
. came to seek and to save that which was lost. He could 
I not look on the exigencies and evils peculiar to their con- 
dition; could not witness the neglect and scorn to which 
. they were subjected, and of which in the present day it is 
i not easy to form an adequate conception, without feeling 
his compassion stirred within him. Among the most civ- 
i ilized and polished nations, they were prostrate in the dust. 
For them philosophy disdained an interest as utterly be- 
neath her notice ; as having nothing sufficiently vulgar 
for their taste. For them the law had no protecting arm, 
justice no balances; right, if it spoke at all, spoke in a 
voice scarcely to be heard ; and kindness, if it deigned a 
look, regarded them with a countenance which indicated 
a heart at ease and devoid of sympathy. For their dark- 
ness, religion, that is to say, the religion which prevailed 
had no ray of light, nor did a drop of its consolation fall 
into their cup. Even in Judea itself, they were treated as 
the refuse of society, and as cut off from the favor of God. 
* This people that knoweth not the law,' said the proud 
Pharisees, ' are cursed ; ' this ignorant and contemptible 
class, are forsaken of God, and doomed to destruction. 
Now it was to rescue them from this oppressed and de- 
graded state, to plead their cause, to redress their wrongs, 
to wipe away their tears, to raise them to that level which 
they ought to maintain, as heirs of immortality, in com- 
mon with those around them, that Jesus preached his gos- 
pel to the poor. Numerically considered, even they might 
have claimed his chief attention, for he saw that they form- 
ed the large majority of ever}'- land ; but their condition, 
more than their numbers, touched his heart. He came 



350 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

down from the throne of his glory, arid mingled with the 
despised and neglected poor. He delighted their ears 
with assurances of the divine regard. He invited them to 
rest their heads on the bosom of Providence. He sought 
to lighten the burdens of the heart, and to support their 
steps with the staff of the divine regard. He aimed to 
give them the wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation. 
While he showed them that sin is the most grievous pover- 
ty, that sin had robbed and stripped them of all their spirit- 
ual wealth, he taught them the art of happiness, the secret 
of amassing imperishable wealth, and of treasuring 
it up in heaven. ' And the common people heard him 
gladly.' 

In the same spirit of surpassing benevolence he taught 
them gratuitously. Though the knowledge he imparted 
was beyond the price of rubies j though at times he had 
not where to lay his head ; though weary, and way-worn, 
he had to solicit a cup of cold water from the hand of a 
stranger, yet he labored without money and without price ; 
the only reward he desired, was the tear of penitence, and 
the cordial reception of his message. 

And the mode of instruction he adopted was of the 
most simple description. He taught no abstract theories 
inapplicable to the affairs of life ; no philosophic systems 
incomprehensible to ordinary capacities ; dealt in no cabal- 
istic lore ; sanctioned no distinctions of philosophical 
teaching. Jewish pride would have dictated that if a new 
dispensation was to be given, it should be proclaimed im- 
mediately from heaven ; that, amidst the splendors of 
another Sinai, it should be delivered by the ministry of 
angels. Had the taste of Greece been consulted, it would 
have required that the gospel should be announced in all 
the studied beauties of composition, supported by the ingen- 
ious reasonings, and accompanied by the airy speculations 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 351 

in which their philosophers were accustomed to propound 
their flimsy abstractions. But the Great Teacher would 
not thus debase his gospel, and frustrate his design. He 
sought to make himself universal; to speak to humanity. 
His tongue was only the interpreter for his heart ; and he 
aimed to render his teaching a contact of hearts. The 
* key of knowledge had been taken away, 5 by those who 
should have held it only for the people ; they had ' shut up 
the kingdom of heaven ' from the poor, and left them to 
perish : and, while he charged them with this awful fraud 
on the well-being of man, he hastened to supply the per- 
ishing with superior means of salvation. ' He sought out, 
and set in order, acceptable words.' His leading topics 
were few, that he might not confuse ; but so personal and 
important, that they found a response and an interpreter in 
every bosom. He simplified knowledge, and reduced it to 
its elements : now removing the veil from an ancient proph- 
ecy, now uttering a touching parable, now a graphic illus- 
tration from familiar life, now an easy precept or weighty 
truth, and presently returning again to place the same truth 
in a new light. Though all the science of eternity was 
hid in his mind, and the unspeakable words which it is not 
lawful for a man to utter could have flown from his tongue, 
he delighted to be known as the teacher of babes. He low- 
ered himself down to their capacity, w T aited on their dul- 
ness, tasted knowledge for them, and fed them with food 
convenient for them. He went about as the bread of life. 
And the simplicity of his teaching was only in accord- 
ance with its compassionate design — to console the wretch- 
ed. The effect of sorrow is to reduce our nature to its 
elements ; to suspend our intellectual powers, and resolve 
us into creatures of mere feeling; to shut up every avenue 
but that which leads to the heart. He knew that grief 
thus simplifies our nature, and he provided a remedy equal- 



352 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ly simple. He imparted truths to which the heart listens 
and which the heart alone can understand ; for he held 
the heart of the world in his hand ; and knowing the se- 
cret of all its sympathies, he communed w r ith its weakness, 
and sorrows by methods peculiarly his own. Sorrow was, 
in his eyes, among the most sacred things he found on earth ; 
and had it not been so before, the reverent attention with 
which he honored it, and the simple and sympathetic 
terms in which he addressed it, would have made it hal- 
lowed. He knew also that the time of affliction would 
be the season when numbers would first direct a look to 
the gospel for relief; when help, if it came to them at all, 
must come without effort; w T hen the staff must not only 
be provided, but actually put into their hand. And know- 
ing this, he published his gospel as a system of consola- 
tion for the miserable ; and they who know it best are the 
readiest to confess how fully it answers to the character ; 
after the trial of ages, it maintains its prerogative of bind- 
ing up the broken in heart. 

Even the places in which he taught evinced his conde- 
scension. If he discoursed in the temple, it was not from 
any regard to its vastness, splendor, or circumstantial sanc- 
tity; for, in his eyes, it was only the mausoleum 0/ piety, 
the tomb of a departed dispensation ; but because he could 
there teach 'before all the people; ' could there, especially 
at the great festivals when it became the centre of attrac- 
tion, could there meet w T ith, and appeal to, the heart of the 
nation. But during his ministry, it could be said literally, 
4 Wisdom crieth without ; in the chief concourse of the 
people.' The ship, the strand, the desert, the mountain, 
were as eligible in his view, as the city and the temple, 
for the w r ork of saving souls from death. By his god- 
like indifference to time and place, in the work of relig- 
ious instruction, he consecrated the practice of itinerant 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 353 

preaching. He embodied the conduct of the good shep- 
herd in his own parable of the lost sheep, traversing with 
unwearied zeal, the moral wilderness of Judea, in quest of 
'the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' 

Wherever he found a multitude disposed to listen, he 
was prompt to address to them the words of eternal life. 
Some present object , some late occurrence or familiar inci- 
dent, w r as the point from which he led them, step by step, 
up an easy ascent, to themes of heavenly altitude, of infi- 
nite importance. He was always ready to gratify the in- 
quirer, provided his inquiries were made, with sincerity, 
and were such as he could solve with propriety. Though 
he often enjoined his disciples to tell no man where he was 
— for in his life were combined the active and the contem- 
plative in perfect proportions — yet the eager suppliant who 
should succeed, at such times, in discovering and pene- 
trating his retreat, never encountered a repulse,even though 
1 he came to Jesus by night.' Over the door of his most 
sacred retreat may be said to have been inscribed, * Knock, 
and it shall be opened.' When his disciples came to him 
in private, to request an explanation of the statements he 
had been making in public, he was always ready to de- 
scend to their low capacities, and to gratify their desires. 
When Peter replied to his inquiry concerning his personal 
claims, ' Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ; ' 
like a teacher charmed with the progress of his pupil, and 
anxious to encourage him, he pronounced him blessed, 
and rewarded him with an animating promise. He watch- 
ed the progress of his disciples, however slow, with more 
than parental delight. He spoke in accents of encourage- 
ment to piety of the weakest pulse ; feeding it with line 
upon line, and invigorating it with promise upon promise. 

Lessons unwelcome to our depravity, but important to 
our happiness, he not only repeated often, but even devised 

22 



o 



54 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



the most condescending expedients to make them live 
in our minds. His disciples had often contested the ques- 
tion of precedence in his kingdom. He could at once 
have rebuked their ambition with a denunciation of wrath, 
have withered their pride with a frown ; but, in accord- 
ance with his characteristic benevolence, he chose to ad- 
monish them by an affecting sign which they could not eas- 
ily forget. How beautiful, affecting, and instructive the 
sight ! The Lord of glory folding in his arms a helpless 
babe, as an emblem of the humility which adorns his 
kingdom. Humility, from that day, needs to plead no 
other sanction for her lowliest acts. 

Often had he inculcated the condescending the offices of 
brothely love, for well he knew that, like the ligaments 
and arterial net-work of the human frame, the health and 
happiness of his body — the church — depended on their 
binding power and reciprocating influence. But by what 
new expedient can he deepen tho effects of his past les- 
sons? * Jesus knowing that the Father had given all 
things into his hands, and that he was come from God, 
and went to God ; he riseth from supper, and laid aside 
his garments ; and took a towel, and girded himself, and 
washed his disciples' feet. When he was about to ascend 
to the seat of universal empire • when the cross alone re- 
mained between him and the government of heaven, earth, 
and hell ; even ' then he took a towel and girded himself, 
and poured water into a basin, and washed the disciples' 
feet, and wiped them with the towel wherewith he was 
girded ; saying, Ye call me Master and Lord ; and ye 
say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, 
have washed your feet: ye also ought to wash one anoth- 
er's feet ; ' — to condescend to the lowest office of christian 
beneficence and love. Beyond this, he might have said, 
ye cannot go. 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 355 

But, 0, there was another lesson to be taught, the high- 
est, and the last ; a lesson comprehensive of every other ; 
and he sought to steep it in the essence of his tenderness 
and love. He, who laid aside his garments to wash 
his disciples' feet, had laid aside his robes of celestial light, 
and taken upon him the form of a servant, that he might 
beome obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
* The same night, therefore, in which he was betrayed he 
took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, 
and said, Take, eat ; this is my body, which is broken for 
you : this do in remembrance of me. After the same 
manner, also, he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, 
This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed 
for many for the remission of sins : this do ye, as oft as ye 
drink it, in remembrance of me.' Thus tenderly did 
he seek to impress us with the great love wherewith he 
had loved us : to remind us how essential he is to our hap- 
piness ; and to live in our devout affections. By this 
touching rite, he would have us to erect his cross in our 
minds, that we may hold personal and perpetual commun- 
ion with his dying love. He gives into our hands the 
doctrine of his atoning sacrifices, charging us to keep it — 
by all that is sacred in his death, precious in his love, val- 
uable in our own happiness — charging us to keep it em- 
balmed in his own blood He gloried in his cross as the 
pillar of human hope ; the column on which he desired 
that his name might be inscribed as the great memento of 
his love to man, as that single act by which he is content 
to be known, and on which he desires to rest his claim on 
the eternal gratitude of the world. Knowing the power 
which it would give him on human hearts, he has made 
his cross the depository of all the doctrines of salvation. 

III. But, thirdly, our professed object requires that we 
should present examples from our Lord's teaching, illus- 



356 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

trative of his tenderness and benevolence. ' Learn of me,' 
said he, * for I am meek and lowly of heart ; and ye shall 
find rest unto your souls.' This is the character which 
he gave of himself as a teacher; and the only instance, 
in which he laid claim directly to human excellencies. 
And w r ho will not accord to him the amiable qualities 
which he here claims? When first he opened his lips in 
the synagogue of Nazareth, the audience wondered at the 
gracious words which proceeded from his mouth. And 
the description of his benevolent commission, which he 
then read from the prophet, and distinctly appropriated to 
himself, seems intended to throw forward a tender and mel- 
lowing light on the whole of his after course. By inform- 
ing us at first of the gracious character he meant to sus- 
tain,he seems to seek to disarm our opposition, to invite our 
confidence, to ask us to meet his tenderness with a corres- 
ponding feeling of affectionate reliance. From a certain 
date, too, in his public ministration, his teaching must have 
acquired a very affecting character, from his frequent allu- 
sion to his approaching sufferings and death. ' From that 
time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that 
he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the 
elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be 
raised again the third day.' Up to that time he had but 
obscurely alluded to the subject : but suddenly he lays na- 
ked to their view — the cross; he speaks of coming sorrows, 
approaching sufferings, impending death ; he paints a 
scene in which he appears the principal object, bending 
under the weight of a cross, spit upon, scourged, crucified, 
the victim of human and infernal malice. Most probably, 
as often as he adverted to the topic, his voice took deeper 
and more tender tones, and his countenance assumed a 
more solemn aspect : but whether they did so or not, his 
teaching, which had always been grave and pathetic, had 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 357 

from this time infused into it a new element of solemnity 
and pathos. Henceforth he stood in a shadow, which 
threw on him a tender and solemn grandeur — the shadow 
of the cross ; and while speaking from that position, his 
promises became more gracious, and his commands more 
: affecting, and binding than ever. 

i 1. The first sentence he uttered, in his first recorded 
5 discourse, is a sample of the spirit he breathed in all his 
subsequent addresses ; ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for 
i theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' To bless men, to make 
r them happy, was the great object for which he descended 

■ from heaven. He came into the world, expressly, to bless 

■ whatever he could, to encourage and promote it, and to res-? 
• cue from earth whatever would accord with the purity, and 
: enhance the glory, of the world from which he came. In- 
stead of using the lofty and imperative style of positive 
command, he seems to dismiss the state of supreme au- 
thority, to lay aside the character of the legislator, and to 
appear only as the Savior and the Friend : in the most gen- 
tle and engaging manner, he insinuates his will, and our 
duty, by pronouncing those blessed who comply with it. 
Blessing after blessing follow each other in quick succes- 
sion ; every sentence comes from his lips loaded with 
grace; like the gushing forth of a fountain long sealed up, 
they showed the fulness of benevolence which possessed 
his heart. 

Rejecting the minions and favorites of the world, he se- 
selected those whom the world disowns. The poor in 
spirit, the meek, the holy, the sorrowful, and broken-heart- 
ed, the merciful, the sincere, the peaceful, the persecuted ; 
the orphans, the disinherited, the rejected of the world ; 
such was the large family on whom his blessings fell, and 
to whom he opened his arms, and welcomed them to the 
shelter of his heart. Each of the virtues which he here 



358 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

implies, may be regarded as a separate and essential feature 
of christian excellence ; and as he adds one lineament to 
the portrait after another, he surveys it with delight. He 
sees wealth in that spiritual poverty more ample and endur- 
ing than all the treasures which earth can boast ; a majesty 
in this meekness, to which pride can never erect itself; and 
in this christian sorrow, he beholds the seeds of joy, the 
blossomings of glory. He contemplates it in reference to 
another state of being ; and, though the world in its blind- 
ness may hold this character in contempt, he knows that it 
is such as angels will bless.; that the great God, seated on 
the throne of heaven, pronounces it blessed, repeats over 
it all the divine beatitudes ; he would have us to know 
that when it departs by death from this earthly scene, he 
raises and welcomes it into his own kingdom ; and that 
when every mere earthly embellishment shall have faded 
and disappeared, he will proclaim it happy in the presence 
of the universe, and crown it with glory and honor; that 
it is a character whose blessedness eternity itself will ratify 
and augment. As if the benevolence of God had forsaken 
every other vent to find a channel through his lips, thus 
freely and copiously did he pour forth his divine benedic- 
tions. 

And may we not affirm, without a paradox, that it was 
in the exercise of this same benevolence that he uttered 
those denunciations of woe — if, indeed, they are not rather 
to be regarded as exclamations of pity — recorded in the 
23d chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. The compassion 
which brought him from heaven dictated these denuncia- 
tions; for he uttered them in the defenee of the oppressed 
and the wretched. Having identified himself with the vic- 
tims of injustice, he stood forth in their behalf, as one who 
felt himself personally insulted and dishonored by their 
wrongs. He would be known to the avaricious, the proud, 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 3o9 

and unjust, as the Patron of injured humanity: taking 
misery within the pale' of the divine law, and extending 
over it the shield of his divine protection. But even his 
denunciation of ' Woe ! woe ! ' ended in that affecting apos- 
trophe, ' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would \ 

have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gather- 
eth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! ' 
Like the thunder-cloud, which, having discharged its bolt 
at the earth, weeps itself away, exhausts itself in a healing 
shower which closes the rent it had made ; so his pity 
commiserates, and pours itself forth over those whom, in 
the same breath, he had felt himself called to rebuke. 

2. In the same discourse which opens with the beati- 
tudes, and pervaded with the same compassionate spirit, 
we meet with the exhortation, ' Therefore I say unto you, 
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what 
ye shall drink : nor yet for your body what ye shall put 
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than rai- 
ment 1 Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heav- 
enly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than 
they ? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit 
unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? 
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil 
not, neither do they spin : And yet I say unto you, That 
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
these. Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall 
he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? ' &c. 
Matt. vi. 25 — 34. This is one of the beauties of scripture. 
Had it no other recommendation than its felicity of illus- 
tration, and its graces of composition, it would deserve our 
warm admiration ; and indeed it has received the tribute of 
admiration from men who were only in pursuit of literary 



360 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

beauties. But it has higher qualities of excellence than these; 
it speaks to the understanding and heart, on themes of 
deep and universal importance. It contemplates the world 
laboring, restless, fevered about the petty provisions of the 
present Hie ; causing their cup of sorrow to overflow, by 
holding it with an unsteady hand: anxiously looking on- 
ward to the future, borrowing the distresses of the morrow 
to aggravate those of the present day ; loading themselves 
with burdens of grief which do not belong to them, and 
which they are not required to bear : and, surveying this 
scene of overtoiled labor, and sleepless anxiety, and wast- 
ing solicitude, in which mortals are embroiled, the voice 
of Jesus, the friend of man, the tender sympathizer with 
human woe, is heard, rising in tones of the kindest com- 
passion, above the sighs, and plaints, and groans of the 
multitude, and saying, ' Peace, be still ; mourner, dry thy 
tears ; ye, who are laden with the self-imposed burdens of 
worldly care, deposit the heavy load ; ye destitute, who 
count yourselves outcasts of the world, for whom no one 
cares, know that you have a Father, and that the God of 
providence is he. Come, learn of me, and I will give you 
rest ; I will allay your anxieties, and lay your hearts to 
rest on the bosom of that paternal Providence which cares 
and provides for all it has made ; for every thing, from the 
meanest herb which it feeds with the precious dews, up to 
the immortal soul on which it pours the immediate influ- 
ences of the divine Spirit.' 

It is true, that the books of pagan morality abound with 
counsels against grief. The cup of sorrow is so constantly 
in circulation, passing from hand to hand, through the 
whole family of man, and every individual has so surely, 
sooner or later, to drink a portion of the bitter draught; 
that there is no subject which is more popular, or on which 
men speak more frequently and feelingly, than on that of 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 361 

human exigence and sorrow : and none which it is more 
easy to reason against, showing the folly, the uselessness, 
and injuriousness of excessive solicitude. But the reason- 
ings of Christ on the subject have this vast distinction of 
superiority : he does not unfeelingly and gratuitously dis- 
parage the wants and the trials of life ; he does not seek to 
degrade our nature by divesting us of feeling, and reduc- 
ing us to a state of brutish insensibility ; he would have 
us to believe that our earthly cares are of sufficient impor- 
tance to engage the attention of the Divine Being ; and, 
in that persuasion, he would have us to devolve the entire 
burden upon him. He does not propose to give us free- 
dom from care, merely for its own sake ; nor does he seek 
to disengage our hearts from the world without filling the 
vacuum with a new object: he would replace the perish- 
ing trifles of earth, with objects vast as our wishes and per- 
manent as our being ; and would discharge us from all 
the corroding anxieties of time, only that we may be free 
to put forth all our unincumbered strength in the pursuit 
Of heaven. He knows that our whole nature is reduced 
to a state of exigence ; not the body merely, but also the 
immortal, imperishable soul ; and with the deep anxiety 
of true friendship, he sees that, our extreme solicitude about 
this life entirely disqualifies us for attending to the eternal 
exigencies of the soul; he would fain, therefore, relieve 
us from the pressure of the present, lest we should lose the 
substance in grasping at the shadow. He assures us, 
there fjre in accents of gracious concern, that if we will 
but seek supremely ' the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness,' we shall, from that moment, find that God is our 
Father; that, as we advance from stage to stage in our 
way to his kingdom, we shall find the necessaries of life 
ready and waiting our arrival ; and that rather would he 
move all nature, and put all his miraculous agency in op- 



362 , THE GREAT TEACHER. 

eration, than dishonor his paternal relation, or disappoint 
the confidence we repose in his word. 

3. ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy la- 
den, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, 
and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart : and 
ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, 
and my burden is light.' Among the numerous illustra- 
tions of our present subject, which spontaneously rise to 
our recollection, this passage is one of the first, and claims 
our attention bjr its pre-eminence of grace. 

A message from the Baptist, which is related at the open- 
ing of the chapter, had led our Lord to advert to that pre- 
vailing impenitence and unbelief which had resisted both 
the preaching of John, and his own ministry and miracles. 
' Woe unto thee,' said he ; or, ' Alas for thee, Chorazin ! 
alas for thee, Bethsaida ! ' He might have called down 
fire upon them, like that which desolated the cities of the 
plain ; for he affirmed, that their guilt exceeded that of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. But though he seems at the mo- 
ment, to have taken a wide survey of human depravity, and 
to have been deeply affected at the sight, he prayed for no 
vengeance, breathed no desire to relinquish the work of 
saving ungrateful man. On the contrary, as if he feared 
that, by upbraiding the people for their unbelief, he had 
been placing himself in an unwelcome light; as if, by 
glancing at the topic, he had been actually doing violence to 
his own benignity, repressing for a time the current of be- 
nevolence which ever flowed through his heart ; as if he 
now felt all the Savior return again into his bieast, he ex- 
claimed with divine compassion, with an irresistible kind- 
ness that would not be denied, 'Come unto me, and I will give 
you rest.' To add force tp his appeal, he prefaces it with 
a declaration of his divine relation to the Father, of the 
identity of their character, and of the fact that, as our Re, 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 363 

deemer, all things are delivered into his hands. There- 
fore, saith he, ' Come and partake. All things are mine ; 
come, and share them. I have received them for your en- 
joyment and use ; come and let me confer them upon you. 
I am made the Treasurer, the Almoner of all the riches and 
resources of the divine nature ; and you are to be made the 
happy recipients ; come, and let me make you the richer 
by the free gift of eternal life. 

Had the invitation been addressed to any one class ex- 
clusively, how invidious an office would it have been to 
proclaim the gospel ; and how mournful the feelings with 
which many would retire from hearing it ; for they would 
find that it was not meant for them. But it knows no such 
exclusion. It addresses us by a description which is com- 
mon to humanity ; its boast and glory is, that it is intended 
for all who need it ; all who labor and are heavy laden. It 
does not even pry into the cause of our restlessness ; it does 
not ask what occasions our distress ; it only inquires 
whether or not we are the subjects of disquietude. If we 
can look within, and pronounce all calm and tranquil there; 
if we can look around on the various circumstances and 
relations of life in which we are concerned — and back- 
wards on the history of our past life — and forwards into 
the eternal future which we are rapidly approaching ; if, on 
taking this survey, we can see no cloud in the whole hori- 
zon to disturb our repose ; then may we take it for granted, 
the invitation was not meant for us. Or, if we can point out 
one, whose heart is corroded by no care, restless after no 
object, disturbed by no apprehension, we have discovered 
an individual uninterested in this appeal. But, till then, 
it admits of no restriction, its application is universal. 

In uttering it, our Lord undoubtedly selected language 
which would meet the condition, and fall soothingly on the 
ear, of every man. He had surveyed, on the morning of 



364 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

creation, the vast and disordered abyss of chaos ; and he 
had silenced its tumults, and reduced every element to or- 
der. He had sailed with his disciples, in a storm which 
threatened them with destruction, and had calmed it to rest : 
but when he surveyed the condition of man, he beheld a 
storm more furious and deadly than that w T hich raged on 
the sea of Tiberias, and a scene of confusion more appal- 
ling than that which chaos presented on the morning of 
creation. His eye travelled over scenes and wastes of hu- 
man woe ; scenes in which he saw the chains of captivity, 
the pains of superstition, the struggles of poverty, the disap- 
pointments of ambition, the misgivings of the self-right- 
eous, and the exhausted efforts of the sinner, lashed by the 
reproaches of an angry conscience, and aiming to escape 
from a load of guilt. He heard the thickening cries of 
misery; his ear caught a sigh, or a sound of woe, from 
every habitation, every breast of man ; a never-ebbing tide 
of the sounds of anguish, strife and death. His omni- 
science penetrated every heart, and saw the tooth of care 
corroding the peace, not merely of the poor and afflicted, 
but preying alike on the learned, the wealthy, and the 
mighty of the earth. He beheld a storm, in which every 
one was seeking for shelter, without knowing where to ob- 
tain it ; and voluntarily exposing himself to all its horrors, 
he pressed forth into the midst of it, and exclaimed, with a 
heart which felt and bled for them all, ' Come unto me, and 
I will give you rest.' 

This is an invitation from which no peculiarity in our 
character or condition can possibly exclude us. If any 
such exception could be named, it must be the peculiar ac- 
cumulation of our guilt, or the amount of our misery ; but 
this, so far from excluding, brings us more completely 
within the scope of its grace. Were it possible for a man 
to unite in his own individual person, all the wants, and 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 365 

guilt, and capacities of the whole human race, the invita- 
tion would only address him in a more personal manner, 
and with a deeper emphasis of compassion. And shall 
all this benevolence be lost on us ? In the name of all that 
is tender and gracious he urges us to come. He address- 
es us as if we had never offended him, nor had rendered it 
necessary that he should suffer on our account ; as if, in 
contemplating our wants, he had actually forgotten our de- 
pravity and guilt. Indeed, had he himself been the offend- 
ing party, and had entailed on us all the evils we suffer, 
he could not have employed language more affectionate, 
nor have manifested greater solicitude to relieve us. Had 
he descended from heaven to announce only this single in- 
vitation to our guilty race, it is so graciously adapted to our 
condition, that it would have fully justified the important 
mission, and ought to have endeared him to every human 
heart. ■ — 

4. If the gospel be regarded as a temple of spiritual 
truth, the parables of our Lord may be compared to paint- 
ings with which he has adorned the walls, and by which 
he seeks to arrest the wandering eye, and to please while 
he instructs. Among these, the parable of the prodigal 
son never fails to attract and impress. The errors of the 
wanderer, his sufferings, his bitter tears, his penitential re- 
turn, the melting heart of that indulgent parent, who ran 
to welcome to his arms, and weep over, his long-lost son ; 
how many eyes have looked at it till they filled with tears ; 
how many a heart has melted before it ; how many a pen- 
itent has it first inspired with hope, It makes an appeal, 
which finds a responsive chord, of one kind or another, in 
every bosom. It is always fresh, and always welcome; 
equally affecting us in infancy, and old age. 

But what is the secret of its subduing influence? It is 
not that it embodies any profound philosophic truth ; it evin- 



36G THE GREAT TEACHER 

ces no desire to affect : it is a specimen of unlabored sim- 
plicity. Much of its power is, no doubt, to be ascribed to 
that graphic minuteness of detail, by which we seem plac- 
ed in the midst of the scene described, and to become spec- 
tators of all that transpires. But it appeals to more than 
our sympathy ; it draws in our heart, and creates in it all 
the interest of a personal event. The truth is, it is a pic- 
ture of the prodigal and ruined world come to itself, la- 
menting its wretchedness, and retracing its wanderings 
back to God. It represents the meeting of misery with 
compassion ; the communing of penitent wretchedness with 
all-sufficient grace; of our lost humanity with that infinite 
love, which received and embraced our guilty nature, and 
even adopted it into the person of Christ. The parable is 
an epitome of the spiritual history of the whole church ; 
so that every individual member beholds in it an image of 
the most affecting parts of his own life. 

And what an insight does it give us into the depths of 
our Lord's benevolent character ! We feel that we are lis- 
tening to a party concerned ; he presents us with his heart 
in almost every sentence ; nor is it easy to conceive that 
he uttered it without tears. And the view which it gives 
us of his benevolence is further enhanced, when we think 
of the object for which he uttered it: he sought to promote 
repentance, to encourage that change by which the sinner 
comes to himself; not merely by depicting the paternal 
compassion of God, but by representing it as an occasion 
of joy to angels, and to every order of holy intelligence in 
the universe. From a perusal of this, and the two para- 
bles connected with it, he would have the penitent to be- 
lieve, that in going to God for mercy he is occasioning a 
joy which, beginning at the centre of all benevolence — the 
heart of the eternal Father — circulates through all ranks 
of holy existences, to the utmost circumference of the spir- 
itual creation. 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 367 

5. There are numerous passages in our Lord's discour- 
ses in which, as the representative of his people, he de- 
scribes himself as personally affected by all that befals 
them — a sentiment which can only be resolved into that 
enlarged benevolence which identifies him with all piety. 
He reproved the errors and sins of the Jews, with the indig- 
nant sensibility of one who felt himself personally wronged 
and dishonored by them. He spoke of the weakest believ- 
er as his other self: resenting his wrongs, and adopting 
the favors shown him as his own. After often repeating 
this sentiment, and presenting it in various lights, he raised 
it to a climax in the declaration, that, in the last great day, 
he will pronounce concerning every action relating to 
them ; ' ye did it unto me ; or ye did it not unto me? If 
sympathy is to be regarded as a kind of substitution, by 
which we are put into the place of another, and affected in 
many respects as he is affected, then what shall we think of 
the sympathy of Christ, which never allows him to re- 
main an indifferent spectator of any thing his people may 
suffer. Virtue cannot receive the slightest wound, of 
which he does not instantly feel the smart. He is the 
great sympathetic nerve of the church, over which all the 
oppressions and sufferings of his people distinctly pass : 
nor does that mysterious instrument of sensation in the 
human body convey more correctly to the sensorium a 
sense of the condition of the extremest part of the frame, 
than the benevolence of Jesus, who is the sensorium of the 
spiritual universe, apprehends, and sympathizes with the 
least emotion of suffering in his body the church. 

6. ' And when he was come near, he beheld the city, 
and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, 
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes.' Often had 
he approached Jerusalem before by the same road, and gaz- 



368 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ed on it from the same spot ; and we may suppose, had 
looked on it with emotions of unutterable concern : for 
oh ! Jerusalem was endeared to him by ties unimagin- 
ed by man. But now he was approaching it for the last 
time ; and he paused to take a final look. He knew that 
his entrance within its gates would be the signal for filling 
up the measure of its guilt ; and therefore he lingered a 
moment, as if to respite its doom ; the Sun of righteous- 
ness lingered a moment on Mount Olivet, as if to prolong 
for it that day of grace made by his own immediate beams. 
He had before asked for it ' another year,' that he might 
make on it fresh experiments of mercy : and now he gra- 
ciously vouchsafed it another moment. And as he stood 
and gazed on it, his mind filled with affecting recollections 
of the past ; the future rose to his prophetic eye, crowded 
with scenes of guilt and woe ; while both became aggra- 
vated by the afflicting thought, that all his generous efforts 
to save it were defeated, and would only serve to enhance 
its doom. 

His comprehensive mind reverted to the past ; he re- 
membered the days of old, ' when Israel was holiness to 
the Lord.' He could not forget that Judea had for ages 
been the ark of religion, where the knowledge of Jehovah 
had been preserved and cherished, when lost by all the 
world besides ; that it was filled with the mementoes of 
prophets and miracles ; that it had been the birth-place of 
men of whom the world was not worthy ; that its paths 
had been trod by angel-feet ; that its dust was hallowed, 
its very soil sacred to God. He thought of the temple, 
where devotion had for so many ages felt itself nearer 
heaven ; where the bleeding sacrifice had daity testified 
of human guilt and divine placability: where successive 
generations had communed with God from off the mercy- 
seat; and multitudes had found the gate of heaven. But 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 369 

these recollections, pleasing in themselves, were embitter- 
ed by the remembrance of the guilt they necessarily re- 
called — ages of accumulated guilt. The Lord had sent unto 
them his prophets, 'rising early and sending them;' but 
'they beat one and killed another and stoned another.' It 
could not be that a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem. 
It was saturated with •' the blood of all the prophets, down 
to the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom they 
slew between the temple and the altar.' And now he knew 
that it was thirsting after his own blood. For more than 
a thousand years it had enjoyed the peculiar regards of 
heaven ; yet, with all his compassion for it in lively exercise, 
the benevolent Jesus could not but see that it was the 
grave of hope, the vortex of all piety. For three years 
now, he himself had come seeking fruit, and finding none. 
During that period, his preaching and miracles had but 
this one object — the instruction and salvation of its thank- 
less and disobedient people. How solemnly had he warn- 
ed them, how graciously invited them, how anxiously la- 
bored to convince them that he was the Hope of Israel, 
their promised Messiah. For them he had toiled, and trav- 
elled, and interceded, and spent himself in self-consuming 
privations. For their sakes he had made himself of no 
reputation, and taken upon him the form of a servant. 
When driven from Jerusalem by persecution, exiled by 
bitter hate, he carried their welfare with him in his heart, 
and soon he returned to them again with a kindness which 
seemed increased by ingratitude. They formed the sole 
object of his tenderest solicitude, the essence of his daily 
thought. For them every pulse of his heart had beaten, 
and for them that heart was ready to pour forth its vital 
blood. He had done every thing that could be done, con- 
sistently with his own perfections, and with the liberty of 
accountable creatures, but in vain. On them the ob- 

23 



370 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ject of his mission was entirely lost. He knew that, at that 
moment they were passing his destruction into a law. He 
looked down on the guilty city ; and, behold, it resembled 
a vast cauldron filled and fermenting with all infernal pas- 
sions, of which he was to be the devoted victim. 

But, with the self-denying love of a patriot, and the 
grace of a Savior, he looked beyond the spectacle of his 
own sufferings, and fixed his eye upon theirs ; he could 
view them only through an atmosphere of compassion. 
And, oh ! what an appeal to his pity was there. Clouds 
of wrath were gathering over Jerusalem from every quar- 
ter of heaven, fraught with materials of destruction such 
as none but a divine hand could collect: his own blood, 
by which he had graciously meant to wash away their 
guilt, calling with a voice not to be denied, for the ministers 
of justice to arm ; all things on earth and in heaven mus- 
tering and disposing for their doom. He looked again 1 
and, lo the city, his city, was beleaguered and lost ; Jeru- 
salem lay bleeding at his feet ; the harpy nations had tak- 
en their prey; her dwellings of holiness were laid waste : 
and the sound of her expiring lament, drowning even the 
voice of justice itself, pierced his heart, and drew from him 
words in which all his soul came forth ; ' If thou hadst 
known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which 
belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine 
eyes.' 

The exclamation regarded as a sentence, is interrupted 
and incomplete ; but who does not see that it is both in- 
terrupted, and completed, by tears— tears which are the nat- 
ural language of compassion, and which express its in- 
tenseness beyond all words. But he not only thought of 
the past, and surveyed the future, he evidently glanced also 
at a pleasing picture of what the presence might have been; 
and then the hiatus is to be regarded as filled up with a si- 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 371 

lent reflection on what would have been the happy results 
had Jerusalem accepted his mission. The lingering con- 
templation of the same blessed possibility is apparent also 
in his subsequent exclamation ; O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them who are 
sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy chil- 
dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings, and ye would not ! ' Had the nation apprecia- 
ted his character, and sympathized with his mission, how 
different we may suppose, his conduct would have been, 
and how changed the history of his early life. The Jew- 
ish economy might have died a glorious death, full of days 
and full of honors. Instead of entering the temple to de- 
nounce and to scourge, he might have gone to explain, and 
to apply to himself, its ancient rites ; to make known the 
termination of its service ; and to pronounce, in the hear- 
ing of the great congregation, its funeral eulogium. In- 
stead of being hated, persecuted, and ignominiously put to 
death as the victim of malice, he might have assembled 
the tribes by proclamation : have lifted up his voice and 
explained to their breathless attention, the doctrine of the 
atonement ; have opened their understanding, and disclos- 
ed the amazing fact, that the principle of vicarious suffering, 
i which ran through the whole of their economy, was now 
to terminate and triumph in his own piacular death for 
man: and then, amidst the tears and sympathies of the 
world, he might have ascended Calvary — or even the al- 
tar of sacrifice itself — and there he might have been visi- 
bly smitten by the immediate sword of justice ; while an- 
gels, bending over the mysterious scene, would have point- 
ed each other to his blood, and said, ' Behold, how he lov- 
ed them.' Instead of retiring into Galilee when he arose 
from the dead, he might have shown himself openly to all 
the people ; he might once more have entered the temple, 



372 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

where 'Moses and Elias,' as the representatives of the 
Jewish church, might have resigned into his hands the 
trust which it had held for the human race ; and, investing 
him with the insignia of prophet, priest, and king, have 
hailed him as the Hope of Israel, and the Surety of the 
world. ' Oh that his people had hearkened unto him, and 
Israel had walked in his ways ! ' 

It is true, the contrary was foreseen ; every step he took 
was calculated and arranged on the distinct foreknowledge 
of his rejection; the wickedness of his enemies was inter- 
woven into the texture of the divine plans concerning him. 
But his rejection was necessitated only by their own de- 
pravity. Had their blinding unbelief permitted them to 
' know him, they could not have crucified the Lord of glo- 
ry.' The morn of mercy would have arisen cloudless on 
the world. He would have made the temple the cradle 
of Christianity, the rendezvous of piety to all nations, the 
sanctuary of the world. Jerusalem should have arisen as 
a stately palm, towering to heaven, and seen to the ends of 
the earth, distilling balm for the healing of the nations, and 
wafting its fragrance as incense through the skies; relig- 
ion should have built her palaces in its shadow ; it should 
have been the joy of the whole earth. 

How often would he have done this, and more than this, 
for his beloved Jerusalem ; gathering her children under 
his fostering care, and making her the abode of heavenly 
glory. But, alas, this was only a vision — as the name 
Jerusalem imports a vision of peace: and now it was both 
hid from her eyes, and vanished from his. He would have 
turned the vision into reality ; but she would not, she thrust 
him from her. Painful indeed is the situation of the patriot 
who is condemned to watch the exhausted struggles of 
his country ; to tend it during its alternate paroxysms 
of raving, and intervals of lethargic stupefaction, till, one 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 373 

I 

by one, the lingering symptoms of life have disappeared, 
and it lies prostrate in corruption, and trodden under foot 
of the nations. But here was more than a patriot, called 
to mourn over the desolation of his land, and to witness the 
frustration of all his plans for saving it ; here was the 
friend of sinners, the lover of human souls, called to con- 
template the spiritual perdition of a whole land, and that 
land the immediate scene of his godlike labors. He could 
not fail to be deeply affected by the prospect of its temporal 
sufferings : but what were they compared with its impend- 
ing spiritual fate. He knew the history of sin; he had 
seen it in its awful origin, expelling the angels from heav- 
en, and preparing for them a hell ; his omnipresent mind 
had all the endless consequences of sin present to his view. 
And knowing and deploring as he did the eternal results 
of the least sin, how inconceivably great must his emo- 
tions of grief and compassion have been at the sight of a 
whole nation of human beings, for whose welfare, at any 
moment, he was ready to become a curse, destroyed by 
the vials of Almighty displeasure, and perishing under a 
charge of guilt, only inferior in aggravation to the guilt 
of the angels that kept not their first estate. His benevo- 
lent nature recoiled at the idea ; he felt as if he could 
not give them up, could not see them consigned to such 
irretrievable ruin ; as if even now it was not too late to 
save them ; as if he could almost have saved them, even 
against their wills. The consideration of their con- 
tinued aggravated guilt, had, we might have supposed, 
drained the whole passion of pity from his nature ; but at 
the sight of that coming woe, a new fountain of compas- 
sion opens in his heart, and pours itself forth in an unex- 
ampled gush of sympathy ; at the prospect of that dread- 
ful scene, that type of the terrors of the judgment day, he 
hears not the acclamations of the surrounding multitude, 



374 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

hailing his entrance into the devoted city, thinks not of his 
own impending death, but abandons himself to sympathy; 
his whole nature dissolves into compassion, which can only 
find vent in an exclamation in which he poured forth the 
tears of his heart, ' O that thou hadst known, even thou, 
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes.' 

Pitiable, indeed, must be the state of that mind which 
can find itself at ease to debate a question of metaphysical 
divinity in the presence of the Redeemer's tears. Yet there 
are men whose creed has no place even for his sacred 
grief; who are actually annoyed at these tears wept over 
perishing sinners, as at heterodox variance with the divine 
decrees ; who frown at this precious distilment of infinite 
love, as inconsistent with their views of divine inflexibility. 
There are those who would rather these tears had never 
been shed, or that the record of the burst of divine com- 
passion should be expunged from the sacred page, than 
that it should remain as an obstacle to their logical views 
of the divine purposes. But we linger over it with de- 
light ; w T e love to remain within the softening influence, 
the hallowed contagion of the Redeemer's tears ; we bless 
him for them; we regard the melting scene as only infe- 
rior in pathos, in tender and solemn grandeur, to Calvary 
itself. 

The compassionate exclamation of Jesus, on' this occa- 
sion, intimates that the salvation of the Jews would have 
been more agreeable to his benevolent nature than their 
destruction : that, nothwithstanding this, there were suffi- 
cient reasons why his omnipotence should not interpose 
to prevent that destruction ; that, in the same act, justice, 
awful and unbending justice, may denounce destruction 
against the sinner, while benevolence sympathizes in his 
misery even to tears. When Jesus afterwards turned to 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 375 

the mourning daughters of Jerusalem as they followed 
him to Calvary, and said, ' Weep not for me, but weep for 
yourselves,' he sought, by that admonition, to impress them 
with the magnitude of the calamity which awaited them ; 
a calamity so pregnant with woe, that had all the tears 
shed from the creation, been reserved for that event, had 
all the universe joined and aided them in the mighty grief, 
it would not have equalled the greatness of the occasion. 
But his own tears should affect us more deeply with the 
greatness of the calamity, than the sight of all creation in 
tears. To think that Jesus wept, that tears fell from his 
eyes, the eyes of incarnate perfection, how great must have 
been the calamity which occasioned them, the calamity of 
souls lost, immortal natures perishing under the frown of 
God. And he would encourage us to infer, that, making 
the necessary allowance for the difference between his 
earthly and his heavenly state, his nature is still the same ; 
that no sinner perishes unpitied, unlamented. He would 
have the ministers of his gospel to mingle their appeals 
and warnings with tears, and to assure the impenitent that 
if they finally perish, they descend into perdition bathed 
in the tears of his divine compassion. 

7. What an affecting illustration of the tenderness and 
benevolence of our Lord's teaching do we find in his vale- 
dictory discourse to his disciples on the evening prior to 
his crucifixion.* He was about to leave them. He had 
so far advanced in his earthly course, that he was now 
only a step from the cross : a few hours more, and the 
pang of parting from their Lord must be endured. Ten- 
der as his conduct, and gracious as his intercourse had al- 
ways been, he had evidently reserved the outpouring of his 
heart till now. He sought to prepare them for the ap- 
proaching trial, by showing them that, though he died, he 
died with them in his heart. Addressing them in terms 

*John xiv. xv. xvi. 



376 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

of gracious endearment such as they had never listened 
to before ; and such as, considering the circumstances un- 
der which they were uttered, they could never forget, he 
took them into a new region of truth : expatiated over 
fields filled with the products of infinite love ; ranged over 
ground which they had only before beheld dimly at a dis- 
tance, ground which brought them within sight of the gate 
of heaven. Often had he spoke to them as never man 
spake, descanting on topics which it had not entered into 
the heart of man to conceive ; but he now led them into a 
higher department, an inner chamber of truth ; he now 
conducted them into the treasury of his love, displayed be- 
fore them his resources and affluence, pointed out the costly 
gifts which he meant for them, and even invited them to 
select and appropriate his choicest treasures. He drew 
them close to himself; afforded them the nearest inspec- 
tion of his character; unbosomed to them his inmost de- 
signs ; showed them his very heart with all their names 
engraven there, and all their interests bound up and made 
one with his dearest purposes, and with the glory of the 
Father. 

His avowed object in thus addressing them was, that 
'his joy might remain in them, and that their joy might be 
full ; ' that the same exalted views and principles, which 
had sustained and actuated him, might descend to them ; 
that they might inherit the very same spiritual property ; 
that it might be entailed on his church for ever, and yield 
to his people in all generations as large a revenue of joy 
and peace, as, in proportion, it had brought to him. And, 
as if to increase the pathos of this touching discourse, he 
invested it with circumstances of irresistible tenderness 
and love. He uttered it in the presence of the symbols of 
his death ; and while the melting sentence, ' Do this in re- 
membrance of me,' was yet sounding in their ears. And 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 377 

he immediately followed it with a prayer such as, till then, 
heaven had never received from earth — a prayer in which 
he seemed unconscious of mortal presence, and spoke as 
if he had never left the bosom of the Father — a prayer in 
which he asked, with the largeness and confidence of one 
who felt that he had established a claim on the divine re- 
sourcss, that having so nearly reached the cross, he was 
entitled to ask what he would; and all he asked w T as for 
his disciples; all his new and unmeasured influence at the 
throne of grace was employed for them, that they might 
enjoy an interest in all his perfections, a share in all his 
glory — a prayer in which he pleaded as if he had already 
reached the altar of incense above, and had actually enter- 
ed on his office of intercessor there; and in which he clasp- 
ed the eternal throne as if he would save his people by 
prayer alone. By means such as these did he aim, not 
merely to prepare them for the trial of his approaching de- 
parture, but to leave his image impressed on all their 
hearts, to bind them fast to himself with the cords of love, 
to assure them that, henceforth and for ever, he and they 
were one. 

8. There are numerous declarations, interspersed through 
every part of our Lord's discourses, concerning the object 
of his advent, in which he invites us to listen to the high- 
est strains of benevolence. ' I am come,' saith he, ' that 
they might have life, and that they might have it more 
abundantly. I am the bread of life. I am the good shep- 
herd, and lay down my life for the sheep. Whoso eateth 
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I 
will raise him up at the last day. As Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be 
lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not per- 
ish but have everlasting life. The Son of man is come 
to seek and to save that which was lost ; to give himself a 



378 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ransom for many; to shed his blood for many for the re- 
mission of sins.' These passages form part of a numer- 
ous class ; and we have reserved them till now, as exhibit- 
ing the benevolence of Christ, in its highest and most 
comprehensive form ; for they disclose both his purposes 
of grace, and the costly means by which he effects them. 

They teach us, that, in saving man, he is obeying the 
spontaneous dictates, and gratifying the compassionate 
yearnings of his own heart. He assumed life for the ex- 
press purpose of laying it down. He showed that his 
heart was full of a purpose formed from eternity. No 
scene of trial could take him by surprise; no hour of suf- 
fering found him unprepared. He saw as from a height 
the whole array of duty and trial which awaited him ; and 
the only emotion he evinced at the sight, was a self-con- 
suming ardor to reach the cross which stood at the end of 
his path, a holy impatience to be baptized with the bap- 
tism of blood. And when his hour was come, the myste- 
rious manner in which he surrendered up his life on the 
cross — breathing it forth — giving it up — parting with it 
as a free-will offering to God — evinced the truth of his 
own declaration, ' No man taketh it from me, I lay it down 
of myself. 

'For their sakes,' said he, ' I sanctify myself; ' and he 
did so, he devoted himself exclusively to the cause of hu- 
man salvation ; it occupied his thoughts from the first mo- 
ment to the last of his continuance upon earth. All the 
paths of human ambition were open and accessible to him, 
but he passed them all by. All the kingdoms of the world, 
and the glory of them were laid at his feet, but he saw 
them as if he saw them not. With a single sentence he 
could have flashed light on the darkest mysteries of phi- 
losophy ; but he would not thus debase his mission, he 
would not spare a single moment from teaching that high- 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 37$ 

er science, the knowledge of salvation. He had ears only 
for one sound — and that was the voice of penitence, im- 
ploring forgiveness : the voice of fear and conscious guilt 
deprecating the vengeance of eternal fire, and crying for 
relief. He had eyes only for one sight — and that was the 
misery of man ; the spectacle of a world invaded, ruined, 
lost, and moving along in chains to the pit of perdition. 
This ohject filled the whole sphere of his vision ; he could 
see nothing else ; and had all the thrones of earth been 
vacant, and invited his acceptance, it would not have induc- 
ed him to diverge a single step from the path which led di- 
rect to the cross. He had tears but for one sorrow ; and 
he wept them over lost souls. He valued life itself but 
for one object ; as it enabled him to present it in sacrifice 
for human redemption. 

The key to all his conduct is love ; this is the principle 
by which he invites us to interpret all his earthly history; 
and' which is found to explain it all, while itself remains 
inexplicable. Such is the property of sympathy, that even 
in ordinary cases, it impels us to enact a kind of mental 
substitution, imparting to us the feelings, and placing us in 
the situation of the party with whom we sympathise. But 
such was the power of the Savior's compassion, that it 
impelled him to enact a real substitution ! it gave him our 
nature. Under its mighty impulse, he took our place in 
the universe; invited the government of God to treat him 
as the representative of the human race ; absorbed our in- 
terest ; opened his bosom, and welcomed to his heart the 
stroke which we had deserved. And having thus answer- 
ed our liabilities, and honored the claims of injured justice, 
he is rewarded with all the means and the power of salva- 
tion. Having offered to God a perfect sacrifice as the sub- 
stitute for man, he is now to be regarded as offering a per- 
fect salvation to us as the substitute for God. And in mak- 



380 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ing these overtures of infinite grace, every word he utters 
breathes of compassion that will not be denied. 

9. In further illustration of the tenderness and benevo- 
lence which distinguished our Lord's instructions, we 
might adduce the universality of his offers of mercy. He 
could not contemplate, without deep solicitude, the exclu- 
sion of any from the blessings of his grace; to satisfy the 
cravings of his benevolence, all must love him, and be be- 
loved by him. We might refer to the relations which he 
represented himself as assuming and sustaining; for in 
him the tenderness of the shepherd, the affection of the pa- 
rent, and the grace of the Savior, are combined. We 
might point to the attractive epithets which he applied to 
the blessings of his grace ; not contenting himself with 
merely announcing these blessings, but aiming to excite 
our desire to possess them by describing them in the most 
alluring terms. Nor should we omit to mention, for the 
same end, the characteristic tenderness of the topics on 
which he delighted to dilate. He loved to dwell on the 
paternal character of God ; it was a view which formed 
his own consolation and joy through every stage of his 
earthly course, and he essayed to conduct his people to the 
same fountain of delight. Prayer was a subject frequent- 
ly on his lips. His heart was set on bringing about an 
interview between God and man ; for he knew it must lead 
to the reconciliation of the parties ; he knew that if he 
could but bring us to the footstool of mercy, all would be 
well. Hence the attractions with which he has invested 
the throne of grace ; assuring us that we go there invited 
and expected as his friends; hence, the unalienable char- 
ter of prayer, which, sprinkled with his own blood, he has 
placed in our hands : promising to exercise all the good 
within the compass of omnipotence to bestow, and urging 
it in terms of gracious encouragement, to which nothing 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 381 

consistently with the divine dignity, could be added. How 
evidently was he gratifying his own mind, while expatiat- 
ing on the doctrine of divine influence ; offering the Holy 
Spirit as the free gift of God; promising his presence as 
the abiding Comforter ; and enlarging on the great and 
certain advantages of dwelling in the element of his light 
and love. How visibly congenial to his taste was the topic 
of brotherly love ; it formed the subject of his new com- 
mand, of his frequent admonition, and occupied a principal 
part of his intercessory prayer. He might justly have en- 
grossed the love of his people to himself; but, no, he waived 
his own right, and said, ' Love one another.' Such is the 
superiority of his claims on their hearts, that no other be- 
ing could justly demand a share, until they had rendered to 
him his due ; and this w r ould never have been. But he 
graciously dispensed with his own interest, consenting to 
take the love they owe to him, in the form of love to each 
other. Like a father looking on his assembled children, 
while kissing and embracing each other in the first fond 
essays of love, he is content, for the time, to witness their 
mutual regard, without being the immediate object of it 
He loved to contemplate his church as a community of 
hearts, cemented by attachment to a common object, and 
thus rendered one. For this he prayed with an earnest- 
ness that would not be denied, ' that they all might be one ; ' 
that they might form a church in w r hose capacious bosom 
there should be but one heart to sway all its motions, and 
direct all its actions, emulating the harmonious movements 
of the blessed; a heart which should beat in concert with 
heaven, and whose every pulse should diffuse life, and 
health, and joy to the remotest members of the body. 

10. Nor were the tenderness and benevolence of Christ 
abated, either by the lapse of time, or the perseverance of 
human ingratitude. His kindness exhibited no tendency 



382 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

to degenerate into mere professional sympathy ; nor had 
the malice of those who seized his out-stretched hand, and 
nailed it to the cross, any other visible effect than that of in- 
ducing" him to hasten the work of saving them from them- 
selves, and from hell. The superiority to ingratitude 
which some exhibit, arises from a defect in the constitution 
of their nature, by which they are armed with a degree of 
insensibility to wrongs, sufficient to blunt the weapons of 
unkindness. But the sensibilities of Christ were of the 
most acute description ; for in him were harmonized all 
that is great in mind, noble in sentiment, and delicate in 
feeling ; his nature exhibited the perfection of humanity. 
And during the whole of his continunance on earth, his 
sensibilities were all in excitement and activity ; for where- 
ever he looked he saw man was perishing ; and yet where- 
ever he turned he saw man, the object of his tender solici- 
tude, requiting his compassion with a fixed frown of hos- 
tility and defiance. The conduct of man made a constant 
demand on his forbearance, a perpetual drain on his pity, 
sufficient to exhaust every heart but one, which was daily 
replenished at the fountain of compassion itself. He en- 
dured, at times, paroxysms of anguish so great, that no 
compound of mortal elements, unless supernaturally sus- 
tained, could by any possibility have out-lived them. There 
is abundant reason to believe that his course would have 
been much sooner run, that he would have fallen exhaust- 
ed in body and mind before the cross was reached, had he 
not lived in immediate communication with a hidden source 
from whence he drew daily re-inforcements of strength. 
Thus supplied and sustained, ' he failed not, nor was dis- 
couraged; "his affections maintained their freshness and 
youth ; his tender and feeling eloquence, and his holy sen- 
sibilities went on increasing even to the last. 

On arising from the dead, it appears as if his first con- 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 383 

cern was to convince his apostles of his undiminished re- 
gard for them ; to prove to them that he had returned from 
the grave with the same heart with which he had died. 
Often had he spoken to them before, as if he would not 
merely win their souls to him, but breathe his soul into 
them ; and now he actually did so ; 'he breathed on them, 
and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost;' he imparted to them 
his own Spirit. He had been accustomed to call them his 
disciples and servants. On the evening prior to his cruci- 
fixion, as if his affection for them increased, the nearer the 
hour of separation approached, as if he desired to draw 
closer the bands of affection before he left them, he called 
them his friends; ' henceforth,' said he, • I call you not ser- 
vants but friends.' And then it was not till after his res- 
urrection that he drew the cords of love still closer, and 
called them his brethren ; ' Go, tell my brethren,' said he, 
' that they meet me in Galilee.' • Go to my brethren, and 
say to them ; I ascend to my Father, and your Father, to 
my God, and your God.' Thus he reserved the tenderest 
appellation for the last; as though he would provide against 
all their suspicions and fears that he would forget them as 
he rose in dignity and power, by showing them that he lov- 
ed them the more, the more he did for them, and the more 
he became capable of blessing them ; and, whatever the 
dignity to which he might be raised, he would value that 
dignity chiefly as it gave him the power of blessing them, 
and of raising them to a joint participation of his glory. 
' And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up 
his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he 
blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into 
heaven.' This divine arrangement was undoubtedly 
meant to be as significant as the gracious benediction he 
was pronouncing. It taught his disciples that he carried 
their interests with him to heaven ; and that his occupation 



a 



84 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



there would be only a continuation of his employment 
here — the godlike work of blessing them. He meant to 
cheer them with the impression that his departure to heav- 
en, far from terminating his ability to bless them, would 
augment that power : that the intercession which he had 
begun on earth, he went to carry on and complete in the 
immediate presence of the eternal throne. 

His kindness to his disciples only corresponded with 
the grace of his conduct towards the guilty city. He com- 
manded them, 'that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached in his name, among all nations, begin- 
ning at Jerusalem. 1 Could tears have washed away the 
crimson guilt of its inhabitants, they would now have 
needed do remission : for over them the Man of sorrows 
had dissolved into grief. Could kindness have melted or 
moved them, they would, not now have required an exhor- 
tation to repentance : for his last anguish on the cross in- 
cluded a pang of compassion for them : and for them he 
had saved his latest breath to pray, ' Father forgive them ; 
for they know not what they do.' But their impenitence was 
triumphant. Yet no sooner does he find himself in a ca- 
pacity to bless, than he exercises the prerogative in bless- 
ing them. We might almost as soon have expected that 
he would have sent his gospel to be proclaimed over the 
mouth of perdition as to Jerusalem, the hell of earth. At 
least, we should have expected to see it making the circuit 
of the earth before it came there ; to hear him directing 
his apostles to wait till his immediate enemies had descend- 
ed to the grave ; to visit Jerusalem last. But the course 
of his grace admits not of human calculation ; for he 
sends them to Jerusalem first. While the eyes of his 
enemies are yet gleaming with the fire of triumphant re- 
venge, he commissions his apostles to hasten and open 
the charter of redemption within sight of Calvary; to 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 385 

let them know that, whatever they might have drawn 
from his heart, his love for them remains there still ; to as- 
sure them that there is one mode of inflicting on him greater 
pain than even that of employing the cross — by obstinately 
refusing the blessings which his cross has procured. But, 
O, there is an exalted sense, in which this act of grace to 
Jerusalem is only to be regarded as a type of his benevo- 
lence to the world at large; an affected rehearsal on a 
limited scale, of that great dispensation of mercy which 
selects for its objects the chief transgressors of every age, 
and traverses the world in quest of those whose lives have 
been spent in ' crucifying the Son of God afresh, and put- 
ting him to an open shame.' 

Accordingly, his last injunction to his apostles was to 
preach salvation in his name to every creature. His final 
act on earth was to make the world the heirs of his grace ; 
to leave behind him in trust the conveyance of his salva- 
tion to all mankind. He had now contemplated man from 
various and affecting points : and, from each point, the as- 
pect presented to view was calculated to try his love in a 
new and peculiar manner. From heaven he had beheld 
us falling by myriads into perdition: but awful as the sight 
was, it was only the natural result of guilt, so great as to 
make even the earth itself to loathe us. He clothed him- 
self with love, and descended into the midst of us ; of- 
fering himself and his glory to the service of man ; but he 
had. beheld us instantly league and arm against him, mak- 
ing common cause with hell in the work of his destruction. 
He had earnestly gazed on us from the cross ; and what 
was the spectacle he beheld immediately before him, but a 
group of maniac fiends, yelling a song of triumph at hav- 
ing compassed his death? And now, at the moment of 
his departure, as he pierced the future, he saw his humil- 
iation continued and perpetuated through every succeeding 

24 









: 



386 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

age, and every variety of form ; he beheld the enmity of 
the carnal mind, true to its character, daily enacting 
afresh the ignominious scenes of Calvary down to the 
close of time. Yet, with all this infinite guilt lying distinct- 
ly like a map before him, he commended and sent his love 
to every creature. He remembered only that we were per- 
ishing, and felt only that he could save. He found him- 
elf in possession of the gift of eternal life, and he sent 
it in messages of grace over all the earth. By connecting 
this embassy with an act of special benediction on those 
whom he honored to fulfil it, he significantly taught them 
that he set them apart to a work of blessing : that they 
• were to go from under his uplifted hands to bless mankind 
as he had blessed them : to issue forth from under the can- 
opy of his blessing, propagating and diffusing that bless- 
ing to the ends of the earth. And as they were the only 
agents he employed, he thus intentionally taught us that 
henceforth he devoted himself to the office of saving us ; 
that he engaged no agency, owned no agency whatever, 
but for this purpose ; that henceforth his only communica- 
tion with man would be in streams of unmingled mercy, 
the ocean of his grace pouring its fulness into our empti- 
ness ; that while he needed no destructive agency what- 
ever, he should require all the benevolent agency of heav- 
en and earth to be put into motion, in order to do justice to 
the purposes of his love. Having died for the redemption 
of the world, he felt that he had made the world his own ; 
and, embracing all its dearest interests, he pressed them to 
his heart. 

But fascinating and enchaining as this subject is, we 
must now hasten to a close. Casting our eye back on 
the ground we have passed over, what a miracle of moral 
portraiture do we behold in the evangelical history of 
Christ ! What transcendent wisdom ! What divine 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 387' 

I benevolence! What perfection! The character of Jesus 
: stands alone ; it has no archetype in history ; no analogy 
in nature ; no model in all the worlds of imagination : as 
pourtrayed in scripture, it could only have been drawn 
from a contemplation of the living reality. It was the con- 
ception of an infinite mind. It was the triumph of mercy 
aiming to condense in the same being the evidences of di- 
vinity, adequate illustrations of divine love and the power 
of winning the souls of men to salvation, and transform- 
ing them to holiness. 

The character of Christ forms a distinct proof, an in- 
vincible demonstration for the truth of the gospel. When 
we remember that it received a tribute of homage from fal- 
len spirits, we shall the less wonder that it has extorted 
expressions of reverence from some of the worst speci- 
mens of fallen humanity. Men, who have sported with the 
sanctity of everything else that religion owns, have passed 
by the character of Christ in respectful silence ; this was 
conscience, recognizing in his perfection a likeness which 
it felt it ought to be familiar with and adore ; such is the 
awful power of goodness on natures preconfigured to its 
image. Some have been entirely restrained from violat- 
ing the sanctuary of truth, by the same guardian influence : 
the character of Christ, like the presence of a shrine, pro- 
tected it. As the house of Obed-edom was blessed for the 
sake of the residing ark, so religion has often escaped evil ? 
and received homage from its foes, for the sake of the 
character of Christ. Men who have destroyed,, in inten- 
tion, every other part of the temple of truth, have paused 
when they came to this ; have turned aside and desisted 
ior a while from the work of demolition, to gaze and bow 
before it ; have not merely left it standing as a column too 
majestic, or an altar too holy, for human sacrilege to assail, 
but (it was the only redeeming act in their history,) have 




388 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

even inscribed their names on its base, and have been 
heard to burst forth in admiring exclamations approaching 
to love. 

The peculiar excellencies of the character of Christ, as 
an argument for the gospel, are, that it tends to attract and 
invite inspection ; for it is the perfection of moral beau- 
ty : it is level to the apprehension of all ; for it makes 
a direct appeal to some of the first principles of our nature, 
to our natural perceptions of goodness, and our instinctive 
approval of it : and it not only convinces, but transforms ; 
engaging and carrying with it at once the understanding 
and the heart. While some, who were in the last stages 
of depravity, have been allured by it to the pursuit of ex- 
cellence : others, who have been sitting in despondency at 
the gates of perdition, have beheld it, and conceived hope. 
And though the best specimens of our race have, in every 
age since his appearance, been laboring to imitate, they have 
not been able to equal it. The character of Jesus challen- 
ges the affections of all intelligent beings, leaves the im- 
pression of its image on every object it touches, and is 
destined to collect around itself all the sanctified passions 
of the universe. 

But, besides being an evidence for Christianity, the char- 
acter of our Lord is to be regarded as an example. * I 
have given you an example,' said he, ' that ye should do 
as I have done unto you. Learn of me. A new com- 
mandment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; as 
I have loved you, that ye also love one another.' Thus 
he seeks to augment the value of his own character, re- 
garded as an argument for the gospel, by multiplying the 
copies of his excellence in the lives of all his people : he 
would render each of his disciples like himself— a living 
demonstration for the truth. All the wealth of moralpow- 
er which the wise and the good have ever possessed, is 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 389 

summed up in him, and infinitely augmented, and brought 
to bear on the hearts of his people ; that, by living as under 
the focus of all excellence, they might be transformed into 
the same image. Having turned all his infinite nature 
into grace, having dissolved into a fountain of healing 
mercy for the recovery of the world, he would now em- 
ploy the hearts of his people as consecrated channels for 
the diffusion of its streams ; he would have their natures, 
like his own, changed into tenderness and love. It is 
true, his example can never be equalled, for it embodies in- 
finite goodness ; but with so much the greater force does it 
oblige us, in our humble measure, to attempt the imitation. 
Having adopted our humanity, when it was only related to 
him, like other natures, by creation, he is surely entitled 
to expect that we should love our own flesh, that we should 
seek the welfare of the nature which is essentially our 
own, by diffusing the greatest possible happiness among 
those connatural with us. Having died for the good of 
man, the least he is authorized to expect is, that we should 
live for the same benevolent object. What do we behold 
in his history, but a whole life of humility, one continued 
act of ^condescension, a vast and unbroken descent from 
the heights of heaven to the form of a servant, the life of 
an outcast, the death of a malefactor % The least use then 
we can make of his example — we who have it not in our 
power, as sinners, to practice great condescension, since we 
are all on a level in the dust already — is to assist each oth- 
er to arise, aiding the infirmities of the weak, and breath- 
ing a spirit of sympathetic tenderness for all. As far as 
religion is practical and relative to others, he has made 
benevolence its life and essence ; not merely a part of the 
christian character, but the character itself. 

And how eminently is the tender compassion of Christ 
calculated to encourage all to repair to him. When the 



390 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

more prominent parts of his history are made to pass be- 
fore our eyes, if we are not destitute of all sensibility, how 
softening and hallowing the effect they produce on the 
mind ! How impossible is it for the most timid spirit to 
picture the serenity of that brow which no evil passions 
ever disturbed, to mark the benevolence which beamed 
from his eye, and to listen to the tones of that voice which 
soothed and cheered the most fearful and sorrowful, with- 
out feeling itself drawn gradually nearer and closer to his 
side. Wherever his grace is scripturally displayed, it se- 
cures the attention of the most thoughtless, it melts the 
hardest and subdues the proudest heart, and inspires the 
most fearful with hope. The apostle declares, that had 
the princes of this world known him, they would not have 
crucified him ; had they known the principle of love which 
brought him from heaven, they would have been disarmed 
of their enmity against him, and instead of condemning 
him, , they would have paid him homage as the prince of 
the kings of the earth. Had those who were most eager 
to hasten his crucifixion, and most delighted with his death, 
caught but a glimpse of the love which dictated every ac- 
tion of his life, their cruel malignity must have yielded 
and given place to unfeigned penitence and love. 

The character of Christ is the character of his dispen- 
sation ; it is the dispensation of the still small voice ; and 
the secret of its power is love. His ministers, therefore, 
are to win souls, to persuade men, to beseech them, to min- 
gle their instructions with tears ; and the more deeply they 
are imbued with the mind of Christ, the more tender will 
be their address, the more affectionate their message. 
They have only to consult their own experience to learn 
that the public exhibition of Christ, as the Savior of sin- 
ners, constitutes the most welcome and profitable topic on 
which they can enlarge ; that, whatever their subject may 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 391 

be, like John the Baptist, pointing abruptly to his passing 
Lord, that cannot be a faulty digression which directs their 
hearers to behold the Lamb of God. 

The fact that Jesus Christ was peculiarly his own sub- 
ject, teaches us that he ought also to be ours ; and that as- 
pect of his character which he most delighted to exhibit, 
must be the feature to which we should give especial prom- 
inence ; and what was that but tender compassion for the 
souls of men? Approach, then, and look upon him: the 
nature in which you behold him clothed is truly your own ; 
he has assumed it that he may dissipate all your fears ; 
that he might taste death for you ; that he may absorb and 
carry away all your sorrows ; that he may claim kindred 
with you ; that he may discharge for you all the kind and 
beneficent offices of brotherhood ; that he might make it 
impossible for you to doubt his love. Approach, and be- 
hold his hands and his feet; those are the wounds which 
he received when he was wounded for our transgressions, 
bruised for our iniquities, when the chastisement of our 
peace was upon him, that by his stripes we might be heal- 
ed. Urge nothing in excuse for not coming to him ; lose 
not the time necessary to utter it ; for whatever your guilt 
or weakness, your wants or unworthiness maybe, his grace 
over-rules and provides for the whole. He knows the val- 
ue of a religious principle too well, as well as the dangers 
to which it is exposed, to despise it on account of its weak- 
ness ; he does not wait for a time, to see whether the spark 
of piety will increase or vanish; but he watches it, and 
solicits and feeds it, until it rises into a pure and steady 
flame of devotion towards God. He does not disregard 
the piety of the poor and destitute, because they are unable 
to advocate his cause, or to contribute to its support more 
than two mites, or to adorn it with earthly splendor; the 
arms of his love embrace alike the obscure and the more 



392 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

\ 

useful ; and if you are only conscious of a desire to love 
him, a concern to please him, you share a place in his 
heart in common with the angels around his throne. When 
the back-slider relapses into a state from which he had 
been rescued, and seems even to prosecute his sinful course 
^with renewed avidity, he does not as man commonly does, 
regard him as lost. He goes after him into the wilder- 
ness ; sends afflictions in pursuit of him; and waits to see 
the effect which trial and reflection produce. And if, like 
the prodigal, the sinner should come to himself and say, 
' I will arise and return,' and actually begins to retrace his 
steps, the Savior delays not in order to see how far he will 
return — he sees him yet a great way off, and runs to meet 
him — he is delighted at the first indications of penitence, 
anticipates his intention, assists him in returning, and re- 
joices over him as one who was dead and is alive again. 
We ourselves can trace the mightiest occurrences back to 
sources the most insignificant; and, with intuitive ease, 
the Savior beholds, in the first emotion of the penitent, the 
first symptom of an endless life, the first step in a career 
of glory, honor, and immortality. He does not, therefore, 
despise the day of small things. And how many thous- 
ands of the blessed, who are now surrounding his throne 
above, are constrained on looking back to the weakness of 
their early religious impressions, and the hesitation with 
which at first they advanced in the path of life, to bless him 
that he did not break the bruised reed, nor quench the 
smoking flax. O that you knew the unutterable interest 
which he takes in every serious emotion of your soul, you 
would love him more, and resort to him oftener, and repose 
in him all the confidence which he asks. 

Finally : let those of my readers who have been hither- 
to regardless of the ineffable compassion of the Son of 
God, remember the melting tones of remonstrance with 



HIS TENDERNESS AND BENEVOLENCE. 393 

which when looking round upon such as you, he said, in 
all the grief of defeated mercy, ' Ye will not come unto 
me that ye might have life.' You can go to others, and 
inquire the way to happiness; you can believe what they 
say; you do follow their advice; but to him who has laid 
out himself for your welfare, who alone could make the 
vast provision necessary for your immortal happiness, and 
who has made it at the expense of an infinite sacrifice, to 
him you will not come. He has to complain of you, that 
while you have been always ready to yield to the solicita- 
tions of the world, to follow the first beck of temptation, 
to accept of any invitation in the shape of worldly plea- 
sure, yet his call you will not obey He has to complain 
of you, that you put him off with mere professions, and 
make him to serve with the mere semblance of friendship ; 
that though you have for years frequented his house, and 
heard his invitations, and been pressed to accept them, you 
still remain on terms as cold and distant with him as ever ; 
that you never come to his footstool as suppliants, nor to 
his table as friends, nor walk in his ways as devoted disci- 
ples. But he will not let you go : though he feels your 
obstinate refusal to come to him ; feels it as an insult to 
his grace ; feels it as a deep disappointment, a grievous 
frustration of an object on which his heart was set, yet 
once more he comes to you; and, O, mark and admire 
the gentleness of the terms in which he expostulates — it is 
the melting rebuke of mercy chiding you into its embrace 
— ' Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.' 
There is a sense, perhaps, in which, owing to your pro- 
longed and stony indifference to his claims, you may be 
said to have closed your hearts against him; but he seeks 
to surmount even this obstacle ; ' Behold,' saith he, ' I stand 
at the door and knock.' He knows what unholy guests 
are within, what sins are entertained and regaled in the 



394 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

■ 

chambers of your hearts, while he is kept standing without 
and refused admission. But still, by the instrumentality 
of his gospel, if by nothing else, he continues to knock 
and to urge you to come to him ; or he tenderly upbraids 
you that you will not. 

But why does the blessed Jesus thus expostulate? ' It 
is not,' saith he, ' that I receive honor of men ; it is not 
that I seek to be gratified with the barren applauses of 
men, or that I hope for human requital ; but these things 
I say unto you, that ye might be saved.' Yes, Savior of 
sinners, this is thine only object, that they might be saved; 
the object of all thou hast said to them, and of all thou 
hast done for them ; the object which is always present to 
thy mind. For this thou hast surrounded thyself with 
convincing proofs of thine appointment and power to save ; 
and, O, surpassing grace, thou even consentest to wait for 
their decision till they have examined the evidence of thy 
claims in detail. For this thou hast withheld nothing, not 
even thy blood, thy life ; thou has done so much for them 
that infinite love can do no more. 

Behold, then ; behold, in the boundless love of Christ, a 
sufficient inducement to repair to him at once. He may 
be regarded, at this moment, as standing before you, with 
the hoarded love of eternity in his heart, offering to make 
you heirs of all its wealth ; nor is it in your power to grieve 
him more, than by disregarding the gracious overture. 
He fears nothing but your neglect ; deprecates nothing but 
your inattention. The first look you direct towards him, 
would not escape his notice; the first step you take towards 
him, would bring him more than a step towards you. All 
things are ready for your reception ; he will meet your 
weakness with his almighty strength, your emptiness and 
poverty with his inexhaustible fulness. 



ESSAY V. 

THE PRACTICALNESS OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING. 



' Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. ' 
'Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.' 



I. Considered as a teacher of holiness, our Lord 
Jesus Christ exemplified his wisdom, not only in the light 
which he imparted, but also in what he withheld. 

1. Pretenders to a divine revelation have seldom omitted 
to infuse into their systems of error a large proportion of 
the marvelous. Calculating on the credulity, and raven- 
ous curiosity of the multitude, they have been graphic and 
unsparing in their disclosures of the invisible and future. 
Besides pandering to the prevailing passions of mankind, 
they have aimed to establish their dominion by stimulating 
and engrossing the imagination with wonders ; and having 
raised the veil of mystery to its utmost height, they pro- 
ceed to measure the infinite, to paint the inconceivable, and 
to materialise and subject the spiritual to the senses. 

But he who came forth from the bosom of the Father, 
and who could therefore have dazzled and astounded the 
world with celestial visions, practised a wise and gracious 
reserve. He came, not to astonish, but to instruct and to 
save ; and to instruct solely with a view to save ; and 
knowing that to feed curiosity is only to increase its 
appetite, that to impart a particle of knowledge more 
than is essential to our advance in the path of holi- 
ness, would operate as a diversion from that path rather 
than an incitement in it, he limited his communications to 
the exact measure of practical utility. He kept his hand, 



396 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

if I may say so, on the pulse of conscience, and adminis- 
tered only so much of the exciting element of knowledge 
as would subserve the health and holy activity of the soul. 

In order to estimate the gospel aright, it is necessary to 
bear in mind, that it is not meant for intellectual beings as 
such ; it is not addressed to man in his mental, but in his 
moral capacity : it contemplates him as a lapsed and ruined 
creature, to whom the only knowledge that is essential is 
a knowledge of the way of deliverance. If, besides con- 
taining this vital information, it also ministered to his un- 
sanctifled curiosity, he would, undoubtedly, prior to his 
conversion, value it the more highly ; but, from the moment 
he opened his eyes to a perception of his guilt and danger, 
he would as certainly account that very circumstance a 
great defect. His first solicitude and employment, then, 
would be, to disentangle; and, bestowing on these, and on 
these alone, the name of gospel, the plain and simple pre- 
scriptions of mercy ; and, detaching, would cast the re- 
mainder away as refuse, as an insult to his anguish, a 
mockery of his woe. However unnatural his cravings 
before, nothing now but the unadulterated bread of life can 
satisfy his famishing soul. 

Accordingly, at the hazard of displeasing the specula- 
tive and inquisitive, the Savior confined his communica- 
tions to the wants of our condition. Repelling the curios- 
ity of his disciples, how often did he turn their prying in- 
quiries into occasions of solemn practical appeal. When 
they sought to pluck from the interdicted tree of knowl- 
edge, he graciously presented them with the fruit of the 
tree of life. They found every avenue closed, but the nar- 
row way that leadeth to life eternal ; every fountain seal- 
ed, but the fountain of the water of life. While the heav- 
enly Oracle was prompt in answering even the mental and 
unuttered inquiries of the devout and humble, the inquisitive 



o 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 397 

received a rebuke which contained a blessing. Having 
s come to seek and to save that which was lost, to open a way 
from the mouth of that fearful pit around which we had 
i gathered to the gate of heaven, he caused all the light of 
i revelation which he shed, to fall on that path alone: that we 
i might not be tempted to wander from the highway of ho- 
[ liness, he left it skirted on each hand with original dark- 
i ness ; while, from whatever part of the spacious firmament 
■ of truth he brought the beams of revelation, he caused them 
. all to converge and rest on that strait and narrow way. 

2. But, if we admire the wisdom of the Great Teacher, 
i in thus limiting his discoveries to the measure of our wants 
and interests, we cannot withhold our complacency at his 
i legislation, in delivering a code of pure and simple moral- 
, ity, entirely unencumbered by the clogs of an onerous and 
i elaborate ritual. Discharging his disciples from the cares 
and vexatious obligations of the ancient ceremonial, he has 
laid aside for them every such weight, and left them free 
for the race of holiness to heaven. The rites of baptism 
and the Lord's supper are too simple and spiritual to be 
treated as exceptions to this fact. Instead of wasting the 
powers, and exhausting the vigor of the soul, on outward 
observances, he holds it disengaged and fresh for the up- 
ward path of holiness. Economizing our energies and 
passions, he points us to a sphere of duty in which angels 
might engage with honor, and commands us to put forth all 
our strength, adorning ourselves with all that is fair, em- 
ulating all that is great, overtaking the excellencies, and 
embodying the perfections of heavenly natures. Having 
touched and given impulse to all our spiritual powers, in- 
stead of impairing that momentum by calling us to sur- 
mount the obstacles of preliminary rites, he collects and 
compacts its force, and dismisses it in a line direct from 
heaven. Treating our nature with a divine respect, the 



398 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

code which he enacts is one of generous authority, taking 
off every depressing weight, only prescribing what is ab- 
solutely necessary, and actuated in doing so by the aim of 
building up our character into a goodly fabric of spiritual 
beauty and perfection. 

II. If it comported with our design to specify the sub- 
ject of our Lord's discourses, we should unhesitatingly 
say, that his most favorite practical topics were, humility be- 
fore God, and a spirit of forbearance and love toicards 
man. In the inculcation, of morals, by uninspired teach- 
ers, novelty is the last quality to be desired, since it could 
scarcely fail to be error ; but the practical instructions of 
Jesus had this distinction, that their peculiarities were ex- 
cellencies. One of these marked peculiarities consists in 
his taking under his special protection certain dispositions 
which the world had consented to brand and cast out, had 
conspired to frown out of existence ; in restoring them to 
the rank of duties, and proclaiming them graces of the 
kingdom of God. 

1. Humility is a habit of mind which has never been in 
favor with the world : in every age it has been degraded 
into the footstool of vanity, and conceit, and enthroned pride; 
but, in direct opposition to the unanimous verdict of mankind, 
he raised it out of the dust into which it was trodden, pro- 
nounced it a favorite of heaven, and clothed it with the gar- 
ments of salvation. ' Blessed are the poor in spirit, for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' 

Since the fatal moment when man aspired to ' be as a 
god,' his great quarrel with his Maker has been, a deter- 
mination to assert a power of independence altogether alien 
to his nature and condition. The standard of revolt was 
then erected ; and the history of all his subsequent conduct 
has been the history of an insane endeavor to construct an 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 399 

empire, governed by laws, and replenished with resources, 
independent of God. The idolatry and sensuality, the un- 
belief, irreligion, and all the multiform sins of man, are re- 
solvable into this proud and infernal attempt. Now, before 
God can do any thing towards our personal recovery, it is 
obviously necessary that we should be disabused of the idea 
. of our supposed self-sufficiency ; that, descending from the 
pedestal our pride has erected, we should cast ourselves 
down at his feet, and await his pleasure. The true value 
i of humility consists in its inducing us to desire and wel- 
, come the assistance we need, to abandon ourselves cordial- 
j ly to the divine direction ; to return, and descend, and 
gratefully to occupy our proper station at his footstool, as 
pensioners on his bounty and grace. ' They that are whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick;' and they 
only will apply to him for aid. 

Alas, for man, that his humility should have to be ac- 
counted a virtue ; that, by simply conforming his views to 
his condition, and taking a just estimate of his state and 
character, he should render himself an object of congratu- 
I lation to man, and of peculiar complacency to God ; what 
a depth of depravity does it imply, what a reproach on our 
nature does it convey — for a blind and insignificant creature 
to believe his infinite Creator, for a guilty and condemned 
criminal to accept of pardon, for a man in the act of perish- 
ing to submit to be saved — that this should be esteemed a 
virtue! and should be lauded with a warmth which denotes 
its rareness ! ' This is indeed a lamentation, and shall be 
for a lamentation.' But, condescending to our condition, 
our Lord inculcated humility as a cardinal grace, promot- 
ing it to the highest place in the catalogue of virtues. He 
repeatedly intimated, that while a spirit of self-exaltation 
shall finally be smitten with a blow which it cannot sur- 
vive, that while the Almighty will array against this avow- 



400 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ed antagonist all the forces of its wrath, and will not rest 
till he has driven it far from his presence, into outer and 
endless darkness, humility shall be raised from glory to 
glory, till it has reached the loftiest throne in the kingdom 
of God. 

But that which gives peculiar emphasis to his inculca- 
tions on this subject is, that humility is inseparably con- 
nected with the cordial reception of his gospel ; so that, in 
enjoining it, he is infallibly preparing the way for the en- 
largement of his holy kingdom. Humility is the conser- 
vator of the virtues ; nor is there an act or office peculiar 
to christians, in which its influence is not vitally felt. As 
pourtrayed by him, on entering his evangelical church, it 
is a little child, to whom belief is natural, an emblem of can- 
dor, simplicity and faith ; when hearing his word, it sits at 
his feet, and is all docility and attention ; on entering the 
presence of God, it throws itself prostrate, or smites on its 
breast, and dares not lift up so much as its eyes to heaven ; 
when it is free to take the highest seat in the assembly, it 
voluntarily selects the lowest, and is taken by surprise if 
called up higher ; in the presence of superior excellence, 
it is praise and imitation ; associated with fellow-christians, 
it is willing subordination, emulous of no distinction but 
that which arises from pre-eminent service ; it declines to 
be called ' master,' and lays all its honors at the Savior's 
feet ; and when, at length, he shall ascend his throne, and 
enumerate its godlike deeds, he describes it as filled with 
self-abasement even there, and diffident of receiving his 
divine award. Under the reign of holiness, it is the office 
of humility to lay a foundation for universal obedience, by 
filling every subject with gratitude for the blessings he en- 
joys, and making him feel that the lowest situation is a 
post of unmerited distinction, held by a grant from sover- 
eign grace. 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 401 

2. Benevolence — meaning by that term the most en- 
larged exercise of forbearance, forgiveness, and love — was 
another despised and unworldly obligation, which he res- 
cued and enforced by the highest sanctions. Under the 
disorganizing influence of sin, the tendency of the world 
is to a state of universal misanthropy. Having lost its 
original centre in God, it attempts not to find any common 
point of repose, but spends itself in fruitless efforts to erect 
an infinity of independent interests. Every kingdom and 
province, every family, every individual discovers a pro- 
pensity to insulate himself from the common brotherhood, 
and to constitute himself the centre of an all-subordinating 
and ever-enlarging circle. Such is the natural egotism of 
the heart, that each individual, following his unrestrained 
bent, acts as if he were a whole kingdom in himself, and 
as if the general well-being depended on subjection to his 
supremacy. He would fain be his own end ; himself the 
reason of all he does. On this ungodly and unnatural ex- 
periment, the Savior laid his sovereign interdict. He pla- 
ces it in every light, takes us to view it from every point, 
in order to show us its flagrant sinfulness ; and no sooner 
do we place ourselves at his disposal, than we find our- 
selves restored and related to all around, and engaged in a 
career of godlike benevolence : we ' remember the words 
of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give 
than to receive.' 

He sought to neutralize the maxims of the world in fa- 
vor of selfishness and revenge, by bringing into currency 
opposing maxims of forgiveness and love. He would have 
it impressed on us, that we owe to every man a debt of af- 
fection which is never discharged ; that we owe it to him 
as one of our own kind : and that no conduct of his, how- 
ever personally offensive, can ever release us from the ob- 
ligation of seeking his welfare. He would have us to 

25 



402 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

honor all men ; to pay respect to human nature; to aim 
at the general good of that human family into which we 
have been born everlasting members. ' Peter said unto 
him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and 
I forgive him; until seven times ? Jesus answered, I say 
not unto thee till seven times, but until seventy times seven.' 
And, when we have done this, he points us to the conduct 
of our heavenly Father, and renders the duty of forgive- 
ness infinite, while he says, 'Be ye merciful, even as your 
Father in heaven is merciful.' He meets us on our way 
to the throne to obtain forgiveness, and he assures us that, 
however costly the gift we may be about to lay on the holy 
altar, God is not to be bribed to do that for us which we re- 
fuse to do for others ; that there is no access to his presence, 
no audience, nor hope, until our friendship for man is en- 
tire. He supposes us to have even reached the altar, to 
be standing in the immediate presence of God; he suppo- 
ses the religious service to have reached that juncture when 
the Deity is actually waiting to receive the offering, — what 
now can be of sufficient importance to stop the service? he 
teaches us that the exercise of forgiveness is that impor- 
tant thing, and that while it is performing, the majesty of 
heaven and earth consents to wait. And, to save his dis- 
ciples from all reservation and delusion on this subject, he 
taught them to pray that the measure in which they forgive 
might be the standard by which God would dispense his 
grace to them: thus leaving to revenge no alternative but 
instant reconciliation, or the imprecation of revenge on its 
own head. 

He represents our Almighty Father as conceding his 
high prerogative, merging the consideration of the infinite 
difference between our offences against his majesty, and 
the offences of a fellow mortal against our insignificance, 
and offering us pardon for pardon, grace for grace, ' if we 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 403 

from the heart forgive every one his brother their trespas- 
ses.' He would have every man proclaim a general am- 
nesty ; an act of oblivion of all injuries ; a year of jubilee : 
and that jubilee he would have us to make perpetual. 

The world has no notion of vanquishing enemies, ex- 
cept by the employment of outward force, by the exercise 
of revenge, and the infliction of punishment. Jesus Christ 
has brought into operation a new power for subduing an 
enemy. He enjoins his disciples to try the efficacy of 
love : not to content themselves with mere negative benev- 
olence, or, not avenging themselves ; but to breathe back 
love for hatred, and blessings for curses. He points them 
to the triumphant effects of this principle in the hand of 
God; and, taking out of their hands the weapons of re- 
venge, he would have them to make trial of it also. And is 
it possible for them to survey the unconfined goodness of 
God, to entertain the great conception of infinite goodness, 
to have their minds possessed with so vast and glorious an 
idea, without receiving corresponding impressions ? they 
will be led by a necessity of nature to imitate that diffusive 
goodness, to act the god, if I may say so, in their small 
and limited spheres ; to exercise the divine prerogative of 
mercy — to wield that power, before which all opposition is 
destined to give way — the omnipotent power of love. 

As a spiritual being, man is the offspring of the Father 
of spirits ; this is a relation and an honor which he cannot 
lose ; and in this high capacity, the Savior, having further 
dignified us with his own love, proposes every human be- 
ing as a magnificent object of affection to the whole species. 
Taking us from that small circle, that point of selfishness 
we have made our home, and where, in building ourselves 
in from the incursion of outward evils, we have at the 
same time shut out the sight of the great, the spiritual, 
and the future, he conducts us to a mount of vision from 



404 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

which all the territorial lines and artificial distinctions of 
society are no longer visible, and where the living land- 
scape presents us with a view of one vast community of 
immortal beings, claiming the same distinguished origin, 
involved in a common danger, invited to one grand deliver- 
ance, and passing together into the unseen state. While 
surveying this comprehensive and affecting scene, he 
would have us especially to remark the mutual action, the 
certain relation, by which, like the interdependence of the 
planetary system, the interests of each are co-mingled and 
blended with the welfare of the whole. From this eleva- 
tion he points us to the infinite resources he has opened 
for us in God ; reminding us that we have access to more 
than we want, in order that we may go and instrumentally 
minister to the wants of others. Then dismissing us again 
into the vale of life, he would have us to descend and min- 
gle with our race, surcharged with a benevolence like that 
which brought himself from heaven, and which induces 
him still to identify our interests with his highest glory. 

He would have his disciples to combine in a godlike 
endeavor to disarm the species ; to gather out of his king- 
dom all the weapons and instruments of revenge, casting 
them far into the territories of Satan, from which they 
came ; to bring the art of mutual destruction into disgrace 
and disuse ; and to prove their descent from the great 
Peacemaker of the universe, by binding the whole family 
of man into one vast confederacy of mutual assistance and 
brotherly love. ' Blessed are the peacemakers, for they 
shall be called the children of God.' The ancient distinc- 
tion between neighbor and enemy he has annihilated ; his 
disciples are to know no enemy ; the very term is banish- 
ed from the christian vocabulary, or to be inserted only as 
obsolete. He would have them to supercede the visible 
employment of angels under the present economy by be* 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 405 

coming themselves his angels and ambassadors to man. 
By commanding them to imitate his own love, he would 
have them not only supplant but surpass angelic ministra- 
tions ; like an orphan family, whose members have attain- 
ed an age and state of active affection in which the foreign 
helps they enjoyed in childhood are made unnecessary, by 
their mutually caring for and aiding each other. The 
friendships which are cemented in adversity are commonly 
of a more tender, disinterested, and lasting nature, than 
those which are formed in any other circumstances : that 
friendship between man and man, of which he has laid the 
foundation, is to be eternal ; and therefore would he see it 
cemented as closely as possible, by having it commenced 
while they are here in a state of trial ; and commenced, 
(how wise, how worthy of himself the divine arrangement) 
in a reciprocation of christian offices, whose issues shall 
reach through eternity. For not only does he charge them 
to do all the good they can to each other themselves, he 
takes them to the throne of God, and invests them with 
the office of mutual intercessors, empowers them to touch 
and set in motion an almighty agency for each other ; he 
even puts into their hands the means of mutual salvation, 
making it at once their honor and office to assist as sub- 
ordinate agents in training and conducting each other to 
eternal life. 

III. In entering on any of the offices or relations of 
life, it is an obvious advantage to possess a view of the du- 
ties peculiar to that sphere, in as brief, clear, and compre- 
hensive a form as possible ; indeed, if they could all be ad- 
equately described in a single sentence, they would be so 
much the more acceptable. It is a distinguished excel- 
lence of the Great Teacher, that, in the inculcation of mo- 
rality, he preferred comprehensive rules to a distinct spe- 



406 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

cification of duties ; though he took the most enlarged 
view of human obligations, he generalized and enforced 
them by a few compendious laws, instead of separately leg- 
islating for each particular duty. Had he adopted, or 
rather attempted, the latter method, descending to a minute 
enumeration of duties, it would have involved this serious 
evil — that every duty which might have arisen below the 
point of enumeration would have been in danger of being 
treated as unobligatory, because not inserted in the specifi- 
cation. Glad of the plausible excuse arising from the 
omission, men would have regarded every duty not en- 
joined as omissible, and every sin not prohibited as allow- 
able. But in the hands of Jesus, the science of morality- 
is simplified and complete. A single prohibition is so 
planted by him, that like a piece of ordnance, it may be 
said to enfilade and sweep a whole territory of sin ; noth- 
ing can come within its range without challenging its 
thunder and courting death. A single rule is found to 
contain laws for an indefinite number of actions ; for all the 
possible cases, of the class described, which can ever occur. 
Like^he few imaginary circles by which geography cir- 
cumscribes the earth, he has, by a few sentences, describ- 
ed and distributed into sections the whole globe of duty : 
so that, wherever we may be on. it, we find ourselves en- 
compassed by some comprehensive maxim ; and, in what- 
ever direction we may move, we have only to reflect, in or- 
der to perceive that we are receding from or approaching 
to some line of morality. 
By thus generalizing morality, he has consulted the weak- 
ness of the most impaired memory ; presented us with a 
map-like view of the wide region of duty which a single 
glance can survey; provided rules for all the possible va- 
rieties and contingencies of human action ; while the con- 
sciousness it affords his followers, that they are able to sus- 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 407 

tain the particulars of their life upon great first principles, 
enables them to advance in the path of holiness with an 
erect, assured, and dignified carriage of mind ; and the de- 
mand which it makes on the higher capabilities of nature, 
in calling them to comprehend such measures of greatness, 
and to sympathize with such perfection, raises and enno- 
bles them to themselves, and possesses them with the feel- 
ing that they are allied to God. 

To give a single exemplification, let me advert to the ax- 
iom known by the names of the golden rule, and the uni- 
versal law of equity ; ' all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do unto you, do ye also unto them ; for 
this is the law and the prophets.' The Savior himself as- 
cribes to this rule the condensed and comprehensive char- 
acter for which we have cited it ; he pronounces it an ab- 
stract of ail that had been prescribed by the law and the 
prophets; all they delivered on the subject is reducible to 
this, so that, were their writings lost, this summary might 
be expanded into all they uttered. Notwithstanding its 
conciseness, it is a maxim of so generic a kind, that, encir- 
cling the whole sphere of social virtue, it embraces all 
things whatsoever that sphere contains. No injury can 
be done, no reasonable kindness be omitted by man to 
man, which is not a violation of this royal law ; nor can 
any duty be performed which it does not virtually enjoin. 
If it needed any other quality to recommend it, we might 
easily show that it has numerous excellencies fully an- 
swerable to its comprehensiveness. It is a rule as portable 
as our self-love, and identical with it ; for what is it but the 
love of self applied to the destruction of selfishness, by be- 
ing pressed into the service of universal benevolence ? It is 
the measuring rod, which is never out of the hand of self for 
its own purpose, legalized, and applied to mete out the 
same measure for the good of others. It seeks to equalize 



408 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

vicissitude; to make a community of our joys and sor- 
rows, by distributing them as nearly into equal parts as if 
we knew not the portion which would fall to us. It aims 
to transform self into an impartial judge, by giving it an 
interest in all the decisions which it pronounces on others. 
By compelling our selfishness to do the work of destruc- 
tion on itself, it makes us content to number as one, as a 
mere unit in the sum of the species ; and to seek the wel- 
fare of the whole as the shortest and the only way of pro- 
moting our own individual interest. Let this infallible 
law be understood and applied, and the trade of the casu- 
ist would be gone in the department of social life ; for self- 
interest, prompt, and even intuitive when it sits in judg- 
ment for its own ends, would have only to imagine a mo- 
mentary self-transmigration, and to transfer its judgments 
for the advantage of others. 

We might extend this representation to another particu- 
lar of a similar kind, showing the comprehensiveness of 
our Lord's maxims concerning the omission of duty. The 
line which divides his kingdom from the empire of sin is 
so fine, that, like the line of geometry, it is length without 
breadth ; it occupies no part of the territories which it de- 
fines ; it creates no border land, no neutral ground. ' He 
that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth 
not with me scattereth abroad ; ' a sentence which sepa- 
rates the world into two great classes ; assigning over to 
the dominion of Satan the lukewarm with the hostile ; and 
leaving them to discover, that whereas they had expected 
to find themselves standing at least on neutral ground they 
are actually and considerably within the frontiers of the 
kingdom of darkness. 

How large a proportion of those, whom custom and 
courtesy agree to call christians, live and die in self-com- 
placency and hope, from the persuasion that they have been 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 409 

harmless, or, because they have done nothing. It seems 
never to occur to such, that to spend threescore years and 
ten on a field of conflict, the listless spectators of a strife 
in which heaven every moment importunes them to take 
part, is disobedience and guilt. But, for this large sum of 
human ciphers, this aggregation of figures whose total is 
nothing, the final sentence is already prepared. Having 
never aspired to christian activity, or positive excellence, 
the doom which will consign the whole class to their own 
place will descend on them with this fearful formula, ' In- 
asmuch as ye did it not. 1 Now if human guilt is reduci- 
ble to a graduated scale of demerit, by thus inscribing 
condemnation at the least and lowest degree on the scale, 
how unavoidable is the inference made that greater con- 
demnation is reserved for every higher degree of sin ; if 
the mere absence of activity, the negation of friendship, 
for Christ, be denounced, it follows of course that activity 
against him, that positive hostility, being superior guilt, 
has nothing to hope for. Thus, by recording a sentence 
against the omission of duty, the Divine Teacher has not 
merely destroyed the plea of harmlessness, and proscribed 
the whole tribe of the useless, he has tacitly comprehend- 
ed and denounced the hostile and persecuting, leaving 
them to infer that to doom them formally would be super- 
fluous. 

IV. Another excellence of the morality which Jesus 
inculcates is, that it extends to the thoughts and operations 
of the heart. To legislate for a small department of the 
outward life, is all the power that is accorded to human 
authority. In speaking of the spiritual character which 
the law assumed in the hands of Christ, we showed that it 
is his prerogative to prescribe for the heart. ' He knew 
what was in man ; ' and he knew the connection between 



410 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

that hidden source and the visible life, to be the relation of 
cause and effect ; he sought, therefore, to purify the streams 
by cleansing the fountain. He denounces the murder and 
adultery of the heart ; sins, which were unknown to the 
popular code of Jewish morality. ' Out of the heart,* 
said he, ' proceed evil thoughts and every thing that de- 
fileth; 5 and, accordingly, he laid his hand on the hidden 
machinery of pollution, and essayed to destroy it in its 
springs. He sees evil there in its type ; and aimed to 
crush and annihilate it in its mould. He does not wait 
till sin comes out into the life, an overt act ; but pass- 
ing into the heart, he begins to exert the authority of law 
much earlier and higher ; he meets the sin in its native 
home ; detects it before it has become any thing but thought, 
or desire, or intention. 

By repeatedly asking his auditors, as he did, ' Why 
think ye evil in your hearts ? ' he, in effect, proclaimed 
that the busy and populous world of thought is subject to 
divine jurisdiction; that his eye is on all its most silent 
pulsations and hidden movements ; and, consequently, that 
these would furnish materials for a future judicial process. 
And if it exalt our conceptions of matter, to know, that, 
by man, it is absolutely indestructible; that, of all which 
has ever existed, not an atom is lost ; that, however it may 
be modified and dissipated, it cannot be destroyed ; and that 
the whole is destined to pass through the final regenerating 
fires; then what is the amount of solemn importance 
whichshould invest the slightest movements of our minds, 
and what the degree of intense solicitude with which we 

O 

should control and watch them, when we know that of all 
the infinite myriads of our thoughts, not one is lost; that 
they are accumulating fast for judgment ; that over the 
least of them all a solemn inquest will be held, by God and 
his empanneled angels ; and that their verdict will turn it 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 411 

into an element of endless joy or woe. Yes, the moment 
will come, when the slightest movement of the mind will 
be deemed inexpressibly more worthy of attention, than the 
aspect of the starry heavens in their solemn midnight 
magnificence — the most august spectacle of nature — for it 
will be seen creating for us our eternal state : and why 
should we not deem it so now ? To cleanse the air, under 
certain circumstances, philosophy has devised a method of 
straining, and even searching, that subtle element for every 
particle of matter injurious to life ; did we duly care for 
the health of the soul, the morality of Jesus would teach 
us the nobler philosophy, the more vital art, of subjecting 
the inner atmosphere of the soul to a process of examina- 
tion, in which the faintest rudiments of evil would be de- 
tected, and rejected as seeds of death. 

V. But the morality which Jesus inculcated penetrates 
i deeper than to the thoughts; it goes down to that which 
i originates and gives character to thought itself — to motive. 
i Conscious that the vilest motives may co-exist with the 
■ fairest actions, men have ever made it a favorite object to 
, have their character estimated by professions and appear- 
ances. But the morality of Jesus will accept nothing for 
virtue \vhich is not pure in its origin : it proposes to re- 
I store the reign of motive. ' Except your righteousness,' 
; said he, ' shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and 
i Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of 
i heaven.' The radical defect of their piety was, that it was 
only superficial : a robe of light assumed to conceal the 
fiend of darkness. Their actions were the outside of the 
platter, burnished and clean ; but their motives were the 
1 inside, polluted with their excesses. Their professions 
were ' like graves which appear not, and the men that 
walk over them, are not aware of them.' Their piety was 




412 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the • whited sepulchre, which indeed appears beautiful with- 
out ; ' the motive which produced it was the corruption and 
death within. They gave alms; but it was only when the 
trumpet sounded, to attract the notice of the public: and, 
from this ostentation the Savior took occasion to convey 
this important truth — that, in the kingdom of God, the re- 
ward of a laudable action never rises above the level of the 
motive which produces it ; if it originates, as theirs did, in 
a thirst for human applause, it must not look for the divine 
approbation ; its motive is the measure and arbiter of its 
own reward. . • 

But not only did he reprobate impure and selfish mo- 
tives, he specified and even provided the motive which ho- 
liness demands — the principle which fills the bosom and 
sways the actions of God himself — love. Like a perfect 
legislator, having prescribed the sublimest rules of life, he 
proceeded to furnish the most generous and glorious prin- 
ciple of obedience. He died for us. As if determined 
that a sense of obligation should overpower and absorb 
every other incentive to duty, he made the obligation 
infinite by laying down his life for our redemption. He 
died to secure us from the penalty of the law we had bro- 
ken, that he might bring us under irresistible obligation to 
obey the law which he enacted. In the place of the two 
tables of stone, he substituted the cross, inscribed with the 
memorials of his love, and of our duty. He erected his 
cross , and constituted it at once the seat of legislation and 
the altar of sacrifice. ' When Moses had spoken every 
precept to all the people according to the law, he sprinkled 
with blood both the book and all the people, saying, This 
is the blood of the testament which God had enjoined unto 
you: ' when Jesus had completed his code of divine mor- 
ality, he sprinkled it with his own most precious blood, 
saying, • If ye love me, keep my commandments. Great- 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



413 



er love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life 
for his friends : ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I 
command you. 

It is true that while inculcating his divine precepts, the 
piacular and vicarious nature of his death was not under- 
stood by those whom he addressed. But not only w T ere 
his injunctions copiously interspersed with allusions to his 
grace, and descriptions of his remedial relations to man ; 
he required faith in himself, whatever he might do, or be- 
come, as the great work of God. • This is the work of 
God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent ; ' a com- 
mand which was anticipatory and prospective of his ap- 
proaching death, for it foresaw that their faith in him would 
have shortly to contemplate the amazing fact of his death 
for the remission of sins, and would thus possess them with 
that love which is the great evangelical motive to obedi- 
ence. On the foresight of this approaching event, he re- 
quired of his disciples that love should be the ruling mo- 
tive of their conduct, as though his death had already trans- 
pired. — Whatever they did, they were to do it in his name; 
from a principle of obedience to his will, and obligation to 
his grace. If they received a disciple, they were to do it 
in the name of a disciple ; making the fact of his disciple- 
ship, his relation and resemblance to Christ, the object of 
their regard. ' Whosoever shall receive one of such chil- 
dren in my name, receiveth me. Whosoever shall give 
you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye be- 
long to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his 
reward. Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and 
the gospel 1 s, the same shall save it. 

Now, considering the depraved condition of our nature, 
the appointment of love as the moving principle of our 
obedience, might seem to exceed in boldness the loftiest 
flight of the most romantic theorist. But he, who knew 



414 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

all the workings of our mysterious nature, foresaw that his 
miraculous death for our redemption would give rise to a 
cause fully commensurate to the proposed effect. And the 
history of his church, from that period to the present, is a 
comment on his wisdom and benevolence ; it demonstrates 
that his death gave a new motive to the world ; brought 
into operation a principle, which meeting and uniting with 
every other principle of virtue in the human heart, and as- 
similating to itself all that is foreign to its nature, turns ev- 
ery thing it encounters into an accession of power, and 
holds the soul for Christ, and in cordial allegiance to him. 
Like the great but unobtrusive operations of God in na- 
ture, it is silently but constantly at work, achieving the 
mightiest effects in the soul of man, converting his human 
into divine, and raising him from a state of close compan- 
ionship with demons, to the society of the blessed, and the 
vision of God. Issuing from the cross, it has more than 
the power of moral gravitation ; for, while it retains the 
christian in the orb of duty, it propels him forward at the 
same time. And if, in mechanics the strength of a particu- 
lar power is displayed in the number of opposing forces 
which it overcomes, what must be the potency of that princi- 
ple which overcomes the world, wrestles with satanic agen- 
cy, conquers the love of life itself, and which makes its way 
through a host of adverse powers, mastering them all ; a 
principle whose lowest degree of operation results in acts 
of heroism and triumph, and which generates all the obe- 
dience God receives from man. 

VI. But not only do we need an actuating principle ; 
being put into a state of activity, we also require an end to 
aim at; accordingly, the morality of Jesus, having sup- 
plied us with a principle which allies us to God, points us 
to an object, and gives a direction to that principle which [ 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 415 

terminates in God : the glory and enjoyment of the Divine 
Being. Uninspired morality, the offspring of ignorance, 
or passion, or pride, refers us to inferior objects ; to the 
indiscriminate love of pleasure, the avoidance of pain, the 
dictates of nature, or to the greatest present advantage; 
(and if I do not enlarge on these various theories of hu- 
man ethics, it is only from the fear of desecratingthe divine 
morality of him who is soon to sit in judgment on us all ;) 
but the ethics of Jesus include every allowable inferior ob- 
ject, by proposing an end above and beyond them all. 

Having shown us the character of God as the first good, 
and the first fair, he makes it evident that our happiness 
consists in the imitation and enjoyment of that infinite ex- 
cellence. He does this, generally, by requiring us to 
make the will of God the rule of our conduct ; for it is 
not in our power to render greater honor to God than by 
thus placing our immortal interests in his hands. ' Bless- 
ed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.' And, 
more particularly, he prescribes the divine glory as our 
end and aim, in declarations such as this, ' No man can 
t serve two masters ; for either he will love the one and hate 
the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the 
other; ye cannot serve God and mammon; ' thus, by in- 
ference, erecting the glory of God into a supremacy, be- 
fore which every other object must fall down and do hom- 
age. And how emphatically did his own conduct incul- 
cate the same sentiment : ' I came,' said he, * not to do mine 
own will, but the will of him that sent me. My meat is to 
do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.' 
And when entering the shadow of that hour of darkness, 
in which his life of suffering and reproach was to be con- 
summated in a death of ignominy and agony, he fixed his 
eye on the glory of God, and exclaimed, ' Father, glorify 
thy name.' 



MH 



416 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

It is no valid objection to the loftiness of this object, that, 
being pure, it is only adapted to a state of sinless perfec- 
tion ; it is addressed to our imperfect nature as one of the 
means of restoring us to that perfection for which we are 
destined. And, besides the agency of the Holy Spirit, of 
whose help we have yet to speak, the gospel, unlike the 
law, while it demands and provides for our ultimate per- 
fection, and could be satisfied with nothing less, is yet sat- 
isfied, for the present, if it sees us advancing in holiness. 
It infuses into our nature a motive, adapted, by its very 
loftiness, to sustain its office : for, were it less exalted, the 
depressing influences of sin would draw it down to their 
own low level, and destroy it ; but now, though it meets 
with many a check, and mingles with much pollution, it 
remains uncorrupted as light, and never fails eventually to 
triumph, leavening humanity with its own purity. It pro- 
poses, for our aim, an object fitted by the infinity of its ex- 
cellence to engage our pursuit — for that object is final; 
had an inferior end been set before us, we should have had 
a pretext for discontent, for we should have felt ourselves 
capable of a higher aim than was assigned us. It strength- 
ens our principles by simplifying them; expelling some 
from our hearts; and reducing those that remain under 
the sway of a reigning affection, which gives to the soul 
the harmony, simplicity, and singleness of intention of 'a 
little child.' But this sanctification is a process ; and, like 
that change of one political government for another, that 
setting up of a new kingdom in the heart, to which it is 
compared, it encounters many an obstacle, and asks time 
for adjustment and consolidation. 

It is, indeed, impossible to say whether, in the present 
state, the great motive of the gospel ever exists pure and 
uncompounded. Principles of action are too subtle for 
analysis ; they elude our most anxious but coarse attempts 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 417 

to reduce them to their elements. The motive, which, to 
our eye, looks pure as light, might, could we examine it 
through a moral prism, prove to our astonishment, to be 
many-colored. The aim which we regard as in a straight 
line to the glory of God, might, could we obtain a com- 
prehensive view of its course, appear like a stream mean- 
dering to the ocean, touching at every accessible point, and 
taking every object in the way, consistent with reaching 
its final destination. But indirect and compounded as is the 
best principle of human action, the Great Teacher would 
have us raise our eye to the highest point, and aim at the 
loftiest mark in the universe. Unhinging us from the cen- 
tre of self on which we have turned, he supplies us with 
a common centre in God. The eye which has glanced at 
the unclouded sun, is unable, for a time, to recognise the 
most familiar objects of earth; he unveils to us the splen- 
dors of the eternal throne — and the grandeur and wealth, 
and most attractive objects of the world, fade and vanish 
1 from our view ; he calls us away from the limited and sor- 
i did pursuits of time, takes us into the counsels of God, in- 
vites us to join hands with Providence, to mingle in the 
operations of almighty love in renewing, and beautifying, 
and making happy a world of immortal beings. 

Without destroying the rotary principle of self-interest, 
1 by which every man resembles the diurnal motion of the 
globe, he gives to us a momentum, and assigns to us an 
orbit, of which God is the centre, and which transports us, 
in effect, into the most distant parts of the universe, placing 
us in relationship to every part, and blending us with the 
great whole. He directs us to pray that earth may copy 
the example, and rival the obedience of heaven, where the 
glory of God is the point from which every action starts, 
and the goal at which it terminates. ' Sacred to God,' is 
to be inscribed on all our possessions, in the use of which 
26 



418 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

we are to consult his honor and acquiesce in his arrange- 
ments. He invites us to take part in a concert of praise 
which ascribes ' kingdom, and power, and glory,' to God 
supreme ; a concert in which earth is once more to chime 
and chord with heaven ; and which is finally destined to 
he universal, when \every thing that hath breath shall 
praise the Lord.' In the mean time, like the solar splen* 
dor, our light is so to shine before men, that they, seeing 
our good works may glorify our Father who is in heaven ; 
may be constrained to take part in the divine concert. 
Opening before us a career of glory in which angels are 
our competitors, he would have us to stop short at no attain- 
ment, till the will of God be done on earth as it is done in 
heaven ; he would have us be satisfied with no reward, 
till we can mingle the radiance of our crowns with the 
emanations of the paternal throne. 

VII. The holiness which the ethics of the gospel in- 
culcate, acknowledges no standard but God. Man is an 
imitative creature. Having lost his original likeness to 
God, he involuntarily discloses the insufficiency of his 
nature, and a sense of the loss he has sustained, by look- 
ing out of himself for precedent and example in all he does ; 
while the facility with which he lets himself down, and 
adapts himself to the low circumstances into which he has 
sunk, reveals the awful entireness of the revolution his na- 
ture has undergone. But, if his character is to be a copy, 
how important that the model should be of the best descrip- 
tion, of a description which is likely to elevate and im- 
prove his nature, to develope its powers, and fill it with 
all the excellence of which it is capable. But where was 
such a model to be found ? where, among all the speci- 
mens of virtue which earth has owned, and even all the 
ideal forms of worth the imagination had pourtrayed? 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 419 

Man had lost even the idea of moral perfection. Such ex- 
cellence can be understood only by sympathy ; but for this 
sin had disqualified him ; and hence the necessity of his 
regeneration into the divine image, before he can under- 
stand what that image is. To have selected the best, the 
least imperfect of human characters for imitation, would 
have been therefore to erect a defective standard ; and of 
this, the part which, most likely, would have been first 
copied into his nature, would have been its faults and im- 
perfections. Besides, the period might have come when 
he had succeeded in equalling his model ; the resemblance 
is complete ; but he feels himself capable of higher attain- 
ments still ; where now is the pattern for him to copy 1 
He wants one whose excellence knows no limits, but which 
shall continue to enlarge as he approaches it, and to un- 
fold new beauties as he becomes capable of appreciating 
and imitating them, in endless progression ; in fine, the 
only example suitable to our nature, is a perfect example. 
The blessed Savior supplies this necessity : • Be ye per- 
fect, saith he, ' even as your Father in heaven is perfect.' 
And what an honor does he confer on our nature, by sim- 
ply exhorting us to attempt so high an example ! What- 
ever of excellence the universe contains, is only a faint 
resemblance copied from Deity. All created goodness, in 
heaven and earth, is derived from him as its only fountain; 
and could all this excellence be collected and concentred 
in one being, that glorious being would still fall infinitely 
short of the Supreme Perfection. In exhorting us then to 
attempt the remotest imitation of him, the Savior was put- 
ting an honor on our nature which, of itself, should be 
sufficient to lift us out of the world and sin, and to fill us 
with high and heroic aims. And, to encourage us to en- 
gage in this great endeavor, he not only reminds us that 
God is our Father, thus appealing to our filial love ; — for 



420 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

one of the earliest characteristics of a child is that he at- 
tempts to imitate his father ; and any action carries with it 
a sufficient recommendation in his eyes, if his father does 
it ; hut, in order to bring the divine example within the 
scope and compass of our feeble endeavors, he humanized 
and embodied it in his own life. ' He that hath seen me,' 
saith he, ' hath seen the Father also ; ' hath seen the char- 
acter of the eternal Father acted out and submitted to hu- 
man imitation. And so softened arid subdued is that ex- 
ample, as seen in him, that the babe in Christ beholds in 
it features which he hopes and aspires to resemble ; so at- 
tractive is it, that all the family of God, in heaven and 
earth, have their eyes habitually fixed on it in holy and 
delighted contemplation ; so perfect is it, that the least de- 
viation from it is sin, and the least approach to it a step to- 
wards holiness ; and so great and glorious is it, that the 
spirits of the just made perfect, and the angels before the 
throne, have higher conceptions of it at this moment than 
they have ever had before ; and so their conceptions of it 
will go on perpetually enlarging, and their admiration con- 
stantly increasing, while they will always feel that there is 
in it an unfathomed excellence, an infinite perfection, still 
remaining. 

The Divine Redeemer, by thus making the character of 
God exemplary in his own life, has graciously adapted it 
to universal imitation. Uniting in his person the ex- 
tremes of wealth and poverty, majesty and abasement, 
power and weakness, his example, in one or other of its 
aspects, is accommodated to every variety of condition. It 
teaches the highest, that there is an order of greatness 
distinct from all that earth can confer, and superior to it ; 
and it reminds the lowest, that they can invest their state 
with grandeur, and finally attain an elevation of excellence 
from which the inequalities of life will appear on a level ; 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 421 

while, to every intermediate condition, it presents a phase 
especially suited for study and imitation. And what a mo- 
tive to imitation arises from the fact, that he who has thus 
become our exemplar, is himself occupied in the perpetual 
inspection of our conduct. ' Lo,' saith he to his disciples, 
' I am with you always.' By moving in the presence 
even of a man of a vigorous and commanding character, 
we gradually imbibe his spirit and opinions ; on this prin- 
ciple it was, that a heathen philosopher advised his disci- 
ples to imagine themselves constantly acting under the 
eye of sbme ancient sage renowned for virtue ; we can 
never lift our eye without encountering the look of our 
Divine Master. We never move out of his presence, nor 
does he ever withdraw his eye from us : and as, in copy- 
ing the productions of ancient genius, the admiring artist 
takes up his station before his model, and, that he may not 
omit a single line or shade, raises his eye every moment 
to scan the original, so we are to avail ourselves of his 
perpetual presence, by recurring in thought to his divine 
example preparatory to every step we take ; and as the 
soldier in actual conflict is instantly nerved with additional 
vigor on catching the glance of his leader, so we shall be 
braced to redoubled energy in the field of duty, while con- 
scious of the presence of the Lord of hosts, the Captain of 
salvation. 

Were the world to lose the idea of the character and 
example of God, it would forthwith rapidly retrograde 
towards the lowest point of depravity ; earth would from 
that moment begin to compete with hell, in a fearful enter- 
prize and rivalry of sin. The possession of this idea, as 
it is exhibited and secured to us in the gospel, is the safe- 
guard of all morality, the germ of all real excellence. 
Barely to apprehend it, even, is an era in the understand- 
ing; but to conceive the desire of copying it, is a lift in 



422 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the scale of excellence which gives us the sympathy of 
angels, and places us, as at a hound, within sight of the 
gate of heaven. It ventilates the human breast of every 
thing sordid, groveling, and impure ; and turns through 
it a cleansing and invigorating current of heavenly influ- 
ence. The student in art is sent to refine his taste, and 
exalt his genius, by the patient investigation of the great 
masters of antiquity ; the student in holiness is referred to 
him who is the exemplar of all that is good, the original 
of all that is fair: and no sooner does he begin to admire 
than he begins to partake ; he is ' changed into the same 
image from glory to glory.' Possessed with the idea of 
God, he is enamoured of all he meets with that is beauti- 
ful and good : but instead of resting in any fragmentitious 
excellence, it only sends him in thought to the great Arch- 
etype, with whom, by an instinctive act of the mind, he 
compares it, and so estimates its worth. 

In the universe of intelligent beings, the character of 
God is the centre to which all that is virtuous and obedient 
gravitates r the -authority with which every enlightened 
conscience is in constant intercourse ; the appointed ren- 
dezvous from every part of creation, to which all the hosts 
that have, retained or resumed their allegiance, resort, to 
renew their oath, and to reinforce their strength. And, in 
the heart of every individual believer, this exalted con- 
ception of the divine character reigns supreme. It is a 
principle and a power which awes every other fear, expels 
every rival authority, and commands him to fear that Being 
only who can cast both soul and body into hell. It is a 
nucleus, around which ' whatsoever things are honest, just, 
pure, lovely, and of good report,' collect and crystallize. 
' If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,' this is 
the point about which they form, and brighten, and acquire 
their splendor. Claiming the entire homage of the heart, 



HTS PRACTICALNESS. 423 

it receives the subjection of every thought, and beholds 
every other name of power withdraw and vanish ; while, 
capable of perpetual accretion and aggrandisement, it comes 
at length to fill the soul, and to constitute the sole principle 
of holy action. 

VIII. We must not omit to notice the advantage which 
the preaching of Jesus derived, from the simple and au- 
thoritative manner in which it was delivered, and the sanc- 
tions in which it was invested. In putting a man on any 
given course of action, it is important to his progress and 
perseverance, that he should feel unlimited confidence in 
the wisdom and authority of his patron. If the instruc- 
tions he receives are couched in ambiguous terms or de- 
livered in a tone of uncertainty, or enforced with the ver- 
bosity of a special pleader, the methodical clauses and 
measured distinctions of the logician, the endless excep- 
tions and provisoes of the jurist, or the misty film-work 
and cold abstractions of the metaphysician, he will most 
probably suspect that his instructor has yet to form a defi- 
nite idea of his own wishes ; or that he doubts their prac- 
ticability ; or feels that their questionable propriety requires 
the protecting veil of a disguising sophistry ; and the prob- 
ability is, that, possessed with these very natural suspi- 
cions, he will never attempt to carry the instructions into 
practice; or will waste the feeling and passion necessary 
to action, in harrassing alternations between right and 
wrong; or will construe the first obstacle he encounters, 
in the course proposed, into a providential intimation that 
he is not in the path of duty, and should instantly turn 
back. 

The injunctions of Jesus were clear, determinate, and 
imperative; combining, at once, the simplicity of a father 
directing his child, and the authority of a king whose will 



424 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

is law. Taking his stand on the firm, broad, uncomprom- 
ising principles of morality, he spoke, as conscience itself 
speaks, concisely, energetically, and to the point. The 
only logic he employed, was the logic of the heart; his 
only auditor, common sense. Loading every sentence 
with meaning, he levelled it direct at the breast. His 
style seems not merely to breathe a solicitude that it 
maybe understood ; it seems to burn with a .resolution that 
it will be felt, that it will make itself to be remembered. 
This is true of the style of all his commands ; but there 
are some of them which go even beyond this ; they not 
only effect for themselves a lodgment in the memory, but 
when once there, they defy oblivion, nothing can dislodge 
them. 

The unauthorized precepts of other moralists are only 
guesses at right, and should, therefore, be uttered w r ith dif- 
fidence, and received with discretion. But he spoke, as 
the organ and oracle of God, for the universe and for eter- 
nity. He knew that his precepts are to constitute the laws 
of the last day : and that each of them is to sustain the 
everlasting aw T ards of myriads of immortal beings. If 
any one could hear them enjoined, and yet refuse to them 
unbounded regard, his miracles came to his aid, collected 
and clustered around to abet and confirm them. He called 
in the terrors and powers of the world to come, to augment 
their sanction. If we consider his character and office, 
his relation to man and to the invisible world, we shall 
feel that, while propounding his laws, he occupied a posi- 
tion more imposing than that of the mount that burn- 
ed ; that he legislated as in an ampitheatre filled with the 
attendant thrones and dominions of heaven, with the judg- 
ment seat in perspective, the rewards of glory piled up in 
sight, the penal fires of perdition flaring up at intervals, 
and darting forth volcanic flashes from an unknown depth, 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 425 

and God meanwhile corroborating his authority in accents 
of thunder, and saying, ' This is my beloved Son, hear ye 
him.' 

IX. How unspeakably superior is the holiness of the 
gospel to that of mere human moralists, not only as it 
raise's the standard of excellence higher, even up to an im- 
itation of the blessed God, but also as it supplies the neces- 
sary hope and help to obedience. They only tell us what 
they conceive to be our duty, and there they leave us in 
our helplessness ; but Jesus provides us with motives, sets 
before us the incentive of his own example, points us to 
the throne of grace, and engages to meet us there with the 
aid of his Holy Spirit. When the mind is first awak- 
ened to a consciousness of its guilt, it is inclined to look at 
those things most which serve to corroborate its fears, and 
deepen its gloom ; the intrinsic evil of sin, the immutable 
requirements of the divine law, the aggravating peculiari- 
ties of its own transgressions, these are the fearful aspects 
of its condition which concentrate its attention, and aug- 
ment its dismay. Revolting at the thought of aggrava- 
ting its guilt by looking to the general goodness of God, it 
turns away from him who would give it encouragement 
from that source, as from a sophist and a foe. It derives a 
morbid satisfaction from nourishing its anguish ; and 
whether or not it will ever essay a first step in the way 
to heaven, depends on the practicability of inspiring it with 
hope. 

To this crushed and overwhelmed state of mind the Sa- 
vior draws nigh, and ministers the balm of consolation. 
'Blessed,' saith he, ' are they that mourn ; for they shall 
be comforted. Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek ; for 
they shall inherit the earth.' Though less than nothing in 



426 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

their own eyes, he tells them that in his estimation there 
is a wealth in their poverty of spirit, more ample and en- 
during than all the treasures of earth, a majesty in their 
meekness, to which pride can never erect itself and attain ; 
and, in their sorrow for sin, in every tear they shed, an im- 
mortal seed, the fruit of which will be peace and unending 
joy. Though the w r orld in its depravity and blindness 
may continue to hold their character in contempt, he as- 
sures them that the great God, seated on the throne of heav- 
en, pronounces it blessed; that the dowry which falls, ev- 
en now, to its portion contains the blossomings of celestial 
life ; that as often as the partakers of it depart by death 
from this earthly scene, he raises and welcomes them into 
his own kingdom ; and, w 7 hen every earthly embellish- 
ment shall have faded and disappeared, he will, with his 
own lips, proclaim them happy, and in the presence of 
the universe, will crown them with all the beatitudes of 
heaven. 

He informs them that he came into the world to seek 
and to save that which was lost ; that his commission ex- 
tends to the mouth of the bottomless pit ; and, to show them 
that he goes to the extreme of his commission, he points 
them to those whom he rescued at the awful brink, and 
who accompanied him about as the specimens and trophies 
of his grace. By his parable of the prodigal, his encour- 
aging views of the parental love of God, his inspiriting 
invitations and promises of grace, he sought to make des- 
pair impossible, and hope the first emotion of their pen- 
itent souls. He assures them, that so far from being unno- 
ticed, they no sooner turn their faces in the direction of 
heaven, than their Father beholds them yet a great way 
off; that their first incipient desire for aid, brings an al- 
mighty agent to their side; that, during the hour of their 
first application for mercy, the place of audience is kept 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



427 



peculiarly for them ; and that, on the tidings of their repen- 
tance arriving in heaven, whatever may have engrossed the 
angelic harps till then, instantly and joyfully the theme is 
changed to the celebration of this new event. Having al- 
lured them to the footstool of mercy, he stretches forth his 
hand from the throne before which they have fallen, and 
lifts them up, places them on their feet, and points them to 
the duties and encounters which now await them. 

To calculate on miraculous interposition in the ordinary 
affairs of life, savors of presumption and romance. But, 
in the sphere of christian hope, Jesus has made the extrav- 
agance of romance impossible, by promising to exceed all 
hope 5 he has given a wing to our expectation which dis- 
dains all limit, for he has declared, that whatever we ask 
in his name we shall receive. He meets the desponding 
objection to which the survey of our duties and difficulties 
would give birth, and he destroys it before it can be utter- 
ed, by engaging, ' Ask, and ye shall receive.' He thus 
gives us immediate access to the treasury of the divine be- 
nevolence ; so that, even in this world, we can only ward 
off and suspend around us every evil, but we can not draw 
around us every good ; as though we possessed an omnip- 
otent charm, we can create around us an atmosphere of 
peace and joy. He grants us introduction to the armory 
of God, and to all the resources of strength ; so that, like 
the angel who had the key of the bottomless pit, and a 
great chain in his hand, we can fetter the operations and 
restrain the power of the prince of darkness; or we can 
enter the field of conflict and overpower him. To put us 
in progress towards heaven, he even guarantees the assis- 
tance of the Holy Spirit; this is help to which nothing 
can be added, for it is all-comprehensive ; and nothing need 
be, for it is all-sufficient. It infuses omnipotence into our 
feeblest effort, and renders us, while moving in the line of 
duty, invincible, and irresistible. 



428 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

And he not only inspires hope by supplying the neces- 
sary aid, he also quickens our activity in the path of holi- 
ness by exhibiting its ultimate reward. Instead of taking 
it for granted that we should be enamored of duty for its 
own sake alone, he evinces the kindest consideration for 
our fallen condition, by accompanying his commands with 
appropriate promises and blessings. Thus, in his ser- 
mon on the Mount, while inculcating the virtues peculiar 
to the christian character, he associates each with a divine 
beatitude ; graciously alluring us to cultivate the tree, by 
engaging that all its fruit shall be our own. And frequent- 
ly, to give an access of fervor to our zeal he unveils the 
prize which he has promised to holy perseverance, and 
places it distinctly before our eyes; he brings out all the 
crowns, the regalia of heaven, and suspends it from his 
throne, reminding us that it is placed there to be wx>n. 

X. But, however perfect the. morality of the gospel may 
be, and however delightful the task of thus expatiating on 
its excellence, it is necessary to remember that,likeits heav- 
enly author, it has not escaped the tongue of calumny; 
though the painful shock which this recollection inflicts, 
on those who know the gospel best, may be regarded as a 
sufficient refutation of its foes. . Numbers, indeed, who 
have withheld their admiration from the Son of God in 
every other respect, have yet accorded the highest praise 
to his precepts ; they could not advert to these without soon 
exhausting the powers of language in eulogy and delight; 
and to such, therefore, we might justifiably refer the im- 
pugners of his code, to receive the answer they need and 
the reprobation they deserve. 

But we would not leave his morality to be precariously 
defended by the enemies of his cross, though we can now 
advance only a word in its behalf. 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 429 

1. Is it objected that, wherever the gospel has come, dis- 
sension has more or less invariably ensued? It is time 
for such objectors to know, that there is an important dif- 
ference between an incidental occasion and a direct cause; 
that, of whatever evils the gospel may be the indirect oc- 
casion, it is the cause only of unmixed good. Like the 
sun, it cannot rise and shine without being the cause of 
light, and life, and happiness to the world ; though there 
are some fatal spots, on which it cannot look without occa- 
sioning pestilence and death. 

2. Is it alleged against the gospel, that it maintains a 
profound silence on the subject of friendship as a duty? 
This is its wisdom. For until it can be shown that friend- 
ship is a virtue, whatever the kind of characters it may 
unite ; that it is a good abstractedly and for its own sake 
alone, whatever the effects it may produce ; and that, al- 
though its formation depends on the sympathetic attraction 
of twin-like dispositions, on the nicest balancing of feeling 
and concurrence of circumstances, yet all in every situa- 
tion enjoy the means of cementing it j he who should enact 
it as a law, and enforce it as a duty, would betray his ig- 
norance of human nature, and evince that, from whatever 
quarter his credentials were derived, he was no legislator 
sent from God. But, though Jesus has not prescribed 
friendship as a proximate duty, he has done what is far 
more consonant with our nature, and infinitely more con- 
ducive to our well-being. In the amiable qualities which 
his gospel produces, and the acts of relative kindness 
which it prescribes, he has laid the foundation of a friend- 
ship, sanctified and eternal. So far from being indifferent 
to this union of souls, he has not only set us a most attract- 
ive example in his own conduct, but by commanding his 
followers to collect into a church, he has consecrated the 
social instinct, and built a home for friendship to inhabit; 



430 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

he has shown that it is only within the sacred pale of 
Christianity that it can exist in perfection ; only in the soil 
of religion that this plant of paradise, this scion from the 
tree of life, whose root is grace and whose fruit is glory, 
can bloom with freshness and vigor. Having redeemed it 
out of the hands of the ungodly, he has sprinkled it with 
his blood, breathed on it his own spirit, and given to it a 
life which passes uninjured through the gate of death, and 
emerges in the kingdom of God ; where those who are 
the subjects of it approach and fall down together before 
the eternal throne, and receive from his approving smile 
the only element wanted to crown it with perfection, the ele- 
ment of immortality. 

3. Equally futile is the charge which some allege, that 
the gospel is silent on the subject of patriotism. All, how- 
ever, that can be really meant by such an objection is, that 
it says nothing of a tendency to fortify and build up a na- 
tion in its selfishness; that it confers not on one state a 
right to forge fetters for another ; that it kindles no brand 
to ignite those popular passions which nature has already 
made sufficiently inflammable, and to which a vicious ed- 
ucation has added the dangerous tendency of spontaneous 
combustion. But, as far as consistent with his ultimate 
and unearthly aim of establishing the universal kingdom 
of God, our Lord has prescribed every general rule on 
which the welfare of a country depends ; and it would be 
easy to show, that no evil could possibly befall a state, 
either in its internal or external relations, which had not 
arisen from the infraction of one or other of his divine 
laws. 

Besides, it should be distinctly remembered, that love of 
country is a phrase of very uncertain value; that the peri- 
od may come when it will fall into comparative disuse, 
since it depends even for existence on the continuance of 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



431 



the present condition of the world. Only let the great so- 
ciety of nations harmonise and blend — only let knowledge 
go forth in its might, as it is promising to do, and throw 
down the barriers of conventional prejudice — and patriot- 
ism will enlarge and lose itself in philanthropy. This 
is a fact which is beginning to force itself on the convic- 
tion of the most reluctant. Even science cannot touch on 
this theme, without becoming loud and prophetic. It 
refuses to entertain any project less than the amelioration 
of the species. It undertakes to convince mankind that 
every true interest must be universal, that good is indivisible, 
so that to be enjoyed in perfection by one it must be con- 
ferred upon all. But, what science says, the gospel will 
do. In prosecuting the march which it has commenced, 
it consults the map of the world. As the sun of righteous- 
ness ascends in the firmament, our moral horizon enlarges ; 
those whom we had seen by the brand-light of ignorance 
disfigured into phantoms which it was thought merit to 
hate, are shown to be men whom it is pleasure to love ; 
and thus all kindreds, people, and tongues, are drawn into 
the close relationship of a family compact, preparatory to 
their final assembly in heaven. 

But, while the gospel aims at universal benevolence, it 
does not overleap any of the inner and smaller circles of 
duty ; and, as one of these, it takes up, directs, and sancti- 
fies the love of country. In the conduct of our blessed 
Lord we behold a holy patriotism personified, the love of 
country embodied. Where did patriotism ever exhibit a 
nobler burst of sorrow than on Mount Olivet; when 'he 
beheld the city, and wept over it, and said, O Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee, as a 
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would 
not?' Whose patriotism ever endured what his did? 
He had but twelve offices to bestow ; but then they were 



432 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

the highest out of heaven, and these he bestowed on twelve 
of his countrymen. He had but one gift to impart; but, 
oh ! it comprehends every other — the gift of eternal life 5 
and this he directed to be offered to his country first, ' be- 
ginning at Jerusalem.' 

4. But we will not prolong our defence of evangelical 
morality, though the examination of every fresh objection 
could not fail to repay us with the discovery of unforseen 
excellence. We may confidently assert for it the claims of 
divine perfection, and tranquilly rest them on an appeal to 
its practical effects : ' Men do not gather grapes from thorns, 
nor figs from thistles ; the tree is known by its fruits.' 
Concede to Christianity the benefit of this criterion, and its 
triumph is complete. Follow it in its progress from place 
to place, and, as it was with its heavenly Author while here 
on earth, its path may be traced by the song of gratitude, 
the acclaim of joy, which it leaves behind: whatever 
form of misery and vice it may overtake, nothing but pu- 
rity and peace is in its rear. If it gains introduction to a 
community already civilized, it takes all that it finds there 
of wise and good, under its special protection ; it gives 
new motives to duty, new sanctions to law ; arms justice 
with a new and keener sword, and presents her with more 
perfect balances than she possessed before ; throws its 
shield over oppressed and prostrate virtue ; and becomes 
the rallying point, from every quarter, for conscience, and 
truth, and hope, and , right. Engaged in a perpetual con- 
flict with evil, it invites all ranks to enlist under its banners ; 
by giving them an interest in the result of the struggle, it 
urges them to arise in a body, to make common cause 
against the common foe ; and not merely to chase it over 
the borders of their own community, but to give it no 
pause till it has descended into the pit from which at first 
it issued. 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



433 



If the gospel, in fulfillment of its universal commission, 
visits a barbarous people, its advent among them is like the 
bursting forth of a fountain in the heart of a desert — the 
waste is changed into the garden of the Lord. From 
that moment they find a place on the page of history ; and 
from having been tethered to the limits of a wilderness, 
and knowing nothing of their fellows beyond, it calls them 
to take rank in the commonwealth of nations, opens to 
them a commerce with heaven, and makes them free of 
every part of the universe. It not only lifts us out of the 
grossness of barbarism, by acquainting us with the secret 
of our real birthright; by the new and ennobling employ- 
ment which it gives to thought, it raises us also in the 
scale of intelligent beings ; so that many in finding it have 
found a mind, have exhibited the first symptoms of intel- 
lectual consciousness and power. Yes, thousands, whom 
ignorance and selfishness had branded as the leavings and 
refuse of the species, if not actually akin to the beasts that 
perish, are at this moment rising under the fostering care 
of the gospel, ascribing their enfranchisement to its benign 
interposition, taking encouragement from its smiles to as- 
sume the port and bearing of men, and, by their acts and 
aspirations, retrieving the character and dignity of the 
slandered human form. But these are only blessings ac- 
cidental to religion, the shed blossoms of the tree of life, 
the dust of that diamond which constitutes her crowning 
gift. In giving light to the eye of the mind, and objects 
of spiritual purity to the affections, and immortality to the 
hopes, in showing us that there is nothing too great for us 
to expect, or too good for us to attain, it is only fulfilling 
its trust and calling us to perfection. 

Of every other system it may be said that it only actu- 
ates a part of our nature, leaving the rest like a palsied 
member of the body, unnoticed and unused j to Christianity 

27 



434 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

alone belongs the high prerogative of calling every latent 
principle of our complex nature into action, giving appo- 
priate exercise to every function, and proportion to every 
part ; of animating, and maturing, and circulating like an 
etherial fluid through the whole, and bringing it to the 
perfection of ' a man in Christ Jesus.' Wherever it comes, 
it creates a capacity for true enjoyment, and puts all the 
universe in motion to gratify that capacity. It makes us 
feel that we exist under an obligation to be happy. Per- 
fect itself, it pants to behold perfection in every thing else; 
and, since it finds it not already existing, it puts forth all 
its efforts to produce it. Perfect from the beginning, it has 
remained unchanged, while the arts, and sciences, and 
systems of a dateless antiquity have yielded to the demand 
for improvement. It has seen every thing human, contem- 
poraneous with its origin, renovated and changed again ; 
but, like the Jewish legislator when he had survived his 
generation, its eye is not dim, nor its natural force abated. 
It maintains its post in the van of improvement, and points 
the way to enterprise and hope, as the anointed leader of 
mankind. And, however untried the paths, and high the 
distinctions which await them in their onward course, it 
will still be seen in exemplary advance, beckoning them on 
to the goal of perfection. No living springs of good shall 
gush from their hidden depths in human nature, which 
have not been smitten into existence by this rod of heaven ; 
no forms of excellence shall arise to bless the world, of 
which it is not the parent, and the perfect type. Only give 
the gospel room to plant its moral apparatus, and let it ob- 
tain the necessary fulcrum for its powers, and it will em- 
ploy a lever which shall move the world from the dar£ 
vicinity of hell, and lift it into the sunlight and neighbor- 
hood of heaven. - 

XL However incredible the statement may appear to 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



435 



those who are unacquainted with the chimeras of error, 
there is a class of persons who, under the presumptuous 
pretence of enjoying an intimate acquaintance with the 
mind of Christ, and of magnifying his grace, profess to 
glory in the gospel as a dispensation from holiness. That 
such a dispensation would be highly acceptable to the chil- 
dren of disobedience, we can easily imagine, but that its 
advent should be ascribed to him whom hell itself ac- 
knowledged to be the Holy One of God, must be regarded 
as a master-piece of impiety which bids defiance to imita- 
tion, as the last triumph of infernal art. Compared with 
the advocates of this blasphemy, he who only charges on 
the gospel a defective morality, is a mere venial trifler; he 
only alleges that it is wanting in some of the elements of 
a perfect excellence ; they claim for it as a peculiar glory, 
that it dispenses with all excellence. For, by affirming 
that it discharges them from the law as a rule of life, they 
virtually declare that it legalizes vice, that it grants them 
• a patent to sin under its own broad seal, that it naturalizes 
the alien and eternal outlaw, sin, and makes it a 'denizen 
of the kingdom of God. He, by pretending dissatisfac- 
tion with its unfinished excellence, is guilty of abating the 
ardor and expectation of the thirsty inquirer after the wa- 
ter of life ; they, by adulterating the vital element, by in- 
fusing their own poisonous distillation, turn the very chal- 
ice of salvation into the cup of perdition. He wears no 
mask, he bears the mark of his master visibly stamped on 
his forehead, and takes on himself, so far at least as the 
character of the gospel is concerned, the undivided respon- 
sibility of his sin ; while they, under the treacherous guise 
of an alliance with Christ, affiliate their monstrous enor- 
mities on his holy gospel, and throw its hallowed skirt over 
the nakedness of their pollution. 

This, it must be confessed, is a ' doctrine of devils ; ' it 



I 



436 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

partakes of the infernal too palpably to be mistaken ; like 
a stream of volcanic lava, it may be traced directly to the 
mouth of the pit which disgorged it, to scorch and desolate 
the earth in its progress. If demons can rejoice, the suc- 
cessful introduction of this error into the church must have 
furnished them with an occasion for exultation not less 
triumphant than that of the first transgression : it taught 
them that the paradise of the new creation is as accessible 
as the original Eden, that the upas can be grafted on the 
tree of life, that they might confidently repose on the suc- 
cess of this experiment, and regard it as final ; secure that, 
after this, there is nothing too monstrous to be believed, or 
too good to be perverted, when human credulity and de- 
pravity are the materials to be employed. If he of our race 
who lent himself to be the first vehicle of this deadly senti- 
ment, had aspired to the bad pre-eminence of eclipsing the 
first sinner, of enacting another fall of man, he could not 
have adopted a more effectual expedient. Beyond all pro- 
portion of demerit, he has purchased for himself the first 
place in the classification of the heretics, and troublers, and 
monsters of the church. Judas betrayed his master to the 
cross ; but he has betrayed the cross itself, and all its load- 
ed blessings, into the hands of the enemy of God and man; 
his name, like that of the Iscariot traitor, deserves to be the 
synonyme of all that is exaggerated and enormous in 
guilt. 

XII. Instead, however, of humbling the gospel by put- 
ting it on its defence against such an enemy — indeed, an 
apology is due to common sense, and to the most ordinary 
piety, for having adverted to the topic — I shall draw to a 
conclusion by adducing a few illustrations of the supreme 
importance attached to holiness in the preaching of Christ. 

1..' Every reformer of ancient abuses, every benefactor 



i 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



437 



of the species, must expect, on entering on his godlike ca- 
reer, to be assailed by two antagonist forces. He passes to 
his work through two opposing ranks ; the hosts of pre- 
judice draw out, and assail him as an Abaddon, a reckless 
destroyer of everything covered with the dust of antiquity; 
the lovers of change congratulate themselves, that, at last, 
they have found a champion to defy and destroy whatever 
is. In this predicament stood Christ : but, to silence sus- 
picion, and to leave the minds of both parties at liberty to 
accord to his doctrine undivided attention, he stood on the 
threshold of his labors, and made known, that, so far from 
assailing the fundamental principles of law, upon them he 
should take his stand as upon the terra jirma of morality, 
that he should make them the foundation of all he built, 
the basis of a superstructure which should survive the dis- 
solution of heaven and earth. 

2. Whenever holiness came into comparison with any 
of those objects which the world is inclined to idolize, he 
omitted no opportunity of assigning to it a place infinitely 
above them. Knowledge is one of these objects : so pow- 
erful are its attractions to many, that they cordially sacri- 
fice property, and health, and every thing in the pursuit of 
it. But had we mastered all the branches of human science, 
laid open all the secrets of nature, and expounded its most 
hidden and comprehensive laws ; could we recall the past, 
control the present, and by a wide range of philosophical 
induction, foretel the future ; were we able to descant fa- 
milarly on the remotest regions of the universe, and, in 
the wantonness of that power which knowledge confers, to 
yoke the imperial elements of nature, and compel them to 
labor for us ; still he would impress us with the fact that 
the science by which a defiled heart may be made holy, 
comprises the sum of all wisdom. ' This,' said he, 'is life 
eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ 

27* 



438 THE GREAT TEACHER. 



i 



whom thou hast sent.' But he valued even this knowledge, 
only as it prepared men for heaven by regeneration ; ' Sane 
tify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. 5 

3. He foresaw that the time would come, when a splen 
did profession of piety, and, the possession of superhuman 
endowments, would be objects of envy-in his church. But, 
in order to correct our estimate of their value, he would 
have us to understand, that although we could speak in 
every dialect of heaven and earth, rob futurity of its se- 
crets, lay open all mysteries, and grasp all knowledge; 
though our faith could enable us to move the everlasting 
hills ; though we possessed, what to our apprehension is 
the greatest distinction of a miraculous nature which a hu- 
man being can enjoy, the power of casting out demons, of 
detecting their presence and commanding them to depart, 
of defying their power, and compelling them to submit; 
though, like the apostles, we could invade the infernal re- 
gion, and add it to our Lord's unearthly conquest ; though 
our benevolence disdained less than the sacrifice of our 
whole property; and though our martyr-zeal impelled us 
into the flames; the absence of evangelical holiness would 
render the whole nugatory and useless. l Not every one 
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
dom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, 
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy 
name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many 
wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I 
never knew you : depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' 

4. Our Lord foresaw that, in every age of his church, 
his professed followers, true to the bias of depraved hu- 
manity, would be in danger of substituting the appendages 
and accretions of religion in the place of piety itself. This 
pernicious propensity began to disclose itself under his 




HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



439 



own eye. For on a certain occasion, when he had been 
delighting his hearers with an effusion of heavenly wis- 
dom, a woman of the company lifted up her voice, and 
said, ' Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps 
which thou hast sucked.' Now of all the conceivable sub- 
stitutes for personal piety on which human indolence might 
seek to repose, that of kinship to Christ seems the most 
natural and the least liable to general abuse. But 'he saw 
in this outburst of maternal feeling, however natural, a 
principle involved capable of general application, and preg- 
nant with danger; and, therefore, in order to take off our 
attention from every inferior distinction, and fix it on the 
true theory of blessedness, he instantly rejoined, ' Yea, 
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and 
keep it.' 

5: On another occasion, his mother and brethren, actu- 
ally presuming on the ties of kindred, wished to interfere 
with his labors, and expected that he would show them 
some public mark of deference. 'But he answered and 
said, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?' thus 
plainly intimating that, in his official capacity, he knew no 
affinity but that which originates in faith, is cemented by 
love, and puts forth the fruits of holy obedience. He de- 
tected the hydra of religious formality in this chrysalis of 
natural feeling ; and, therefore, at the hazard of appearing 
severe to his earthly kindred, he cast it from him, and 
smote it with the sword of his mouth. But, ' stretching 
forth his hands towards his disciples, he said, Behold my 
mother, and my brethren ; for whosoever shall do the will 
of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, 
and sister, and mother.' 

6. Were we to quote every part of the practical instruc- 
tions of Christ, our citations would amount to at least, two- 
thirds of all he is recorded to have taught. In his first 



440 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

dinsourse on record, that which he addressed to Nicode- 
mus, he describes himself as having kindled alight in the 
midst of the world ; and that while all the children of the 
day delighted to feed and strengthen their spiritual vision 
at its beams, the doers of evil, all the progeny of darkness, 
feared to come forth from their dens of night to encounter 
its rays, lest it should flash condemnation in their face. 

7. His Sermon on the Mount, the most detailed speci- 
men of his preaching we possess, is practical throughout. 
Unlike many a modern discourse, it is not merely guarded 
and finished with a border of practical application that it 
may not be quite unuseful, the material and texture of the 
whole piece consist of the most serviceable and enduring 
principles of duty. So perfect is the character which Je- 
sus requires of his disciples, that the infidel has pretended 
to see in it nothing but the unattainable beau-ideal of ro- 
mance, and to read in its very perfection its own refuta- 
tion. He knew not that celestial aid is offered for the at- 
tainment: and reflected not that to erect a standard profes- 
sing to be divine, and yet short of perfection, would have 
been representing the holy God as making a compromise 
with sin. The morality of Jesus gives no quarter to vice ; 
allows not a moment's truce to any sinful propensrty. Ev- 
ery member and instrument of sin is to be severed and cast 
away with an unsparing hand. His people are to turn 
every act into devotion ; to make every meal sacramental, 
a token and pledge of infinite love. The termination of 
one duty, is to be only a signal for the commencement of 
another ; their life is to be one continuous act of obedience. 
Though, for the sake of civil government and order, they 
may comply with many of the forms which yoke men to 
duty, and keep them in allegiance to virtue, they are yet 
to consider themselves bound by superior obligations ; their 
heavenly Master has taken them to his cross, and sworn 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



441 



them to holiness over the symbols of his death ; hence- 
forth they are to live on oath. 

8. And their piety is to be diffusive; bursting the limits 
of their own life, it is to multiply itself in the lives of 
others. He offers a premium to eminent piety by pro- 
claiming that, when sinners, aroused by its active and un- 
sparing aggressions on vice, shall league and arm to 
destroy it, the gates of bliss shall be thrown wide open to 
welcome the martyr-spirit in its ascent from the field of con- 
flict, and great shall be its reward in heaven. His people 
constitute the salt of the earth ; the advent of his gospel was 
the introduction of a new restorative principle into the 
world; it arrested the progress of corruption, renovated 
much that had fallen into a state of moral decomposition, and 
infused into it the permanent vitality and strength of holiness. 
His people are the depositories of this principle ; and by 
their holy activity they are not only to suspend the tendency 
of the world to a state of general demoralization, but to save 
it for God. They are the lights of the world ; they have 
been kindled to irradiate the surrounding gloom ; they are 
placed in their respective orbits to catch the radiance of 
his throne, and transmit it to a world immersed in the sha- 
dow of death. In order to sustain their office with effect, 
he requires them not merely to shine, but to burn, to be re- 
splendent with holiness and zeal. 

9. When an eastern monarch contemplated a journey 
through a distant part of his dominions, he prepared for 
the expedition, and made it memorable, by sending harbin- 
gers to level a road, and announce his coming. The regal 
progress of Jesus through Judea' was preceded by the com- 
mand, ' Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
straight.' The impediments to be removed, and the 
mountains to be levelled were moral obstructions ; and by 
issuing an edict for repentance, a call to universal reforma- 
tion, he would fain have signalized the epoch of his mis- 



442 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

sion, by sweeping the land of its mountainous iniquities, 
preparing it for the free and unobstructed commerce of 
goodness, and filling it from one end to the other with the 
paths of pleasantness and peace. 

10. And this holiness he wills to be universal. In re- 
quiring us to yield our supreme affection to God, and to 
love oar neighbor as ourselves, he was prescribing for 
earth the elements of celestial fecility : for it is by doing 
this that angels are happy, that heaven is the region of 
blessedness which it is j nor could its happiness survive 
this duty for a moment. But in directing us to pray, that 
'the will of God may be done on earth, as it is in heaven,' 
he would open before us the prospect of unbounded pro- 
gression and improvement ; he would inspirit us to enter 
on a career of emulation with angels ; to despair of noth- 
ing, to hope for every thing, in the moral advancement of 
the world ; to stop at no point short of universal holiness ; 
and to call in, at every step, the almighty agency of God. 
Heaven, it is true, is in every divine excellence, immeasur- 
ably in advance of earth. Truth is the food of the soul; 
and there, in the clear revelations of the eternal mind, the 
spirit is perpetually feasted with fresh discoveries of truth. 
Obedience is the activity and exercise of the renewed 
soul ; and there it is its privilege to serve him day and 
night in the noblest acts of duty. Holiness is the beauty 
of the soul ; and there it is robed in that ' fine linen, white 
and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints.' Hap- 
piness is the health, the well-being of the sanctified spirit ; 
and there it imbibes felicity, at will, at the fountain head. 
The specific employments of the blessed we know not : 
but we are told that every earthly impediment to duty is to 
them unknown, and that in every act of obedience they 
put forth all the mightiest ardor of the most intense devo- 
tion. Every motive to holiness acts on them with a force 
to which earth at present has no parallel. So directly 



HIS PRACTICALNESS. 



443 



does their happiness flow from their obedience, that they 
would deplore a pause in their duty as a suspension of 
their bliss. Holiness is always at its standard there ; and 
happiness, at its full-tide mark. 

But that state of blessedness, instead of depressing us 
by its superiority, becomes, in the hands of the Great 
Teacher, a spring to hope, and a motive to imitation. He 
knows that, in every condition of our nature, the best way 
to ensure excellence is to aim at perfection ; on this princi- 
ple he renders the perfection of the heavenly state subser- 
vient to the improvement of this. Aware of the capabili- 
ties of earth, when pervaded by his Spirit, and blessed with 
his fostering care, he has pledged himself fully to devel- 
ope its best properties, even all its possible excellencies : 
and, for this end, he has raised its aim to the highest point, 
elevated its endeavors to the loftiest pitch, by showing it 
the fairest specimens of created excellence as seen around 
the throne above. He has brought the throne of God 
within sight of earth, he has directed all flesh to come and 
collect around it : and that we may not ask a blessing un- 
worthy of the greatness of the occasion, he instructs us 
to request that we may rival angels in the perfection of 
their obedience ; in order that we may not retire from the 
throne unblessed, through the poverty Of our desires, he 
aims to make us jealous of the inhabitants of heaven, and 
incites us to ask to be admitted into a full community of 
excellence and happiness with them. Yea, more ; by urg- 
ing us to make this request, he would fain induce us to 
move God himself to jealousy, for the honor of his holy 
name ; for what is it, in effect, but the presentation of a 
memorial to the King of kings, setting forth that, in this 
distant dependency of his empire, though its capabilities 
are great, though it might be made to yield him a revenue 
of glory which should compete with the treasured homage 
of heaven, yet his laws are dishonored, his glory defraud- 



444 THE GREAT TEACHER. 

ed, and his will left undone ; what is it, in effect, but a pe- 
tition founded on this memorial, that heaven may not en- 
gross to itself all the immunities of loyalty and obedience, 
but that earth may add its full tribute to his throne, and re- 
ceive its quota of his royal regard ; that righteousness, 
looking down from heaven, may behold her image reflect- 
ed back again from the earth, as perfectly as it is mirrored 
in the chrystal sea which circulates around the eternal 
throne. 

O, thou divine Instructor and Redeemer of mankind, 
what tongue can suitably speak the sublimity of thy pre- 
cepts, the vastness of thy benevolent designs for man, and 
the happiness that would flow from the fulfillment of them. 
How graciously wouldst thou animate us to heroic aims of 
virtue, by intimating that it is possible for us to equal heav- 
en ; how wisely wouldst thou guard us from presumptu- 
ous self-reliance, by referring us to Him for help to whom 
all things are possible; how like thyself dost thou act in 
saving us from a romantic expectation of the end without 
the means, laying on us every necessary command, and 
thus making us instrumental to the accomplishment of our 
own desires. Would man but yield himself up to thy di- 
rections, the hosts of the blessed should have to gird on 
their zeal afresh, in order to maintain their ancient ascen- 
dency ; heaven and earth should become convertible terms, 
and, as seen from the height of thy throne, should appear 
equally active in thy service, and radiant with thy glory, 
O, Holy Spirit of God ; Gloriner of Jesus ; and Renewer 
of the world ; give thou the necessary impulse, and soon 
shall it be transformed into a paradise again — a paradise 
in which the virtues of heaven shall be emulated, and its 
divinest pleasures be foretasted, in which the noblest exer- 
cises of a coming eternity shall be antedated and rehearsed, 
and into which God himself shall descend from heaven, 
bringing the peace and joy of heaven with him. 



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